


The Demon-spawn Louis Weasley

by jpvolpe



Category: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: AU, Canon Compliant, Canon Related, Complete, Gen, POV Scorpious Malfoy, first year Hogwarts, friends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 19:19:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16918848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jpvolpe/pseuds/jpvolpe
Summary: “Are you part Veela like me?”All his cousins, Albus included, burst into laughter.  Louis looked about the room as if he did not understand what was so funny.  Apparently, he was used to it, as he returned to me as if he expected an answer.I sat down by the young blond, I looked at him, and I said that I thought that he already knew his answer.  I then asked him how many male Veelas and part Veelas there were in existence.“One.  Me.”“So, Louis, I cannot be part Veela.  Now can I?”  He then blushed and shook his head in answer.  He was young, and maybe not very socially adept, but he was pretty bright.  The others resumed their small talk, almost as if he was not there.  I turned to look at Albus who was talking, and Louis noticed it.  He probably figured that I and the others would ignore him because his question was so odd.  He turned and started looking sadly out the window, probably realizing that the others had laughed at him because of his question.  It was at that moment I understood how he felt.  He felt apart from the rest of us, like he did not belong among humans.  He was the only male Veela (or part Veela) in existence, he was all alone, and he appeared to be very lonely.





	1. Chapter 1

The first time I met Louis Weasley, I paid him little attention. He seemed just an ordinary little wizard boy, at least to me. I considered myself pretty much the same, except that I was a big wizard boy. He did seem quite a bit smaller than me, and I just thought he was much younger than me. I also was not ordinary, after all, I was Scorpious Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy estate and house, the richest and most powerful house in the wizarding world at least in the United Kingdom and Ireland, even after its disastrous backing of the wrong side in the last wizarding war. Does that surprise you? Did you think that I would not admit that my house backed the wrong side in the last two wars? If you did, you really do not know me well, but that is OK, because even today, few people know me. In fact, there are probably only three people who really know me well, my father, that comes from our close relationship, Albus Potter, my best friend and roommate (and the son of the hero of the last wizarding war, I know, it is weird, live with it), and Louis Weasley, my other best friend and my best teacher. It was the things he did and taught me that made me conclude that he was more than part Veela, he was part demon. You do not believe me? Well, you will see, you’ll see.

Though I hardly looked at him, from his size and stature, I thought he was about two years younger than me. In reality, he had already confounded me because he was only about a year younger. It was just that he was unusually small for his age. I never learned of this mistake until three years later when we met again on the Hogwarts express. He was standing by the window of The Broom Shop, a store in Diagon Alley in London that sells brooms, with his head up against the window looking in attentively. He was ogling the newest model of flying brooms that were on display in the window. He must have come with his mother and older sister (or sisters) to get supplies for Hogwarts. It was a perfectly natural reaction for a young boy to have, so I thought nothing of it or of him at the time. Oh heck, I will be honest. It was my first time to Diagon Alley, so I did not know what to expect. Why I was there, I cannot recall, nor can I recall why my father went there. It certainly was not to get supplies for Hogwarts as I would not be going for another two years. Anyway, I knew nothing of the broom shop, but seeing the other boy practically drooling over the window caught my attention. I figured the display must have something pretty good, so I went straight over to the same window and did exactly the same as the other boy, including the drooling according to my father, though I swear I did not. In the window was none other than the latest model of the Nimbus flying broom! “Wow!” I said to the smaller boy without turning away from the broom, “This is the best thing I’ve seen all day! Thanks for pointing it out!”

He never stopped looking at the broom, and said that yes it was good, but that he had never pointed it out. To be polite, I never told him that he had been drooling over it, only that he had been ogling it. I then cupped my hands around my eyes, placing them between the window and my forehead to get a better view. I was of course only admiring the broom, Malfoy’s do not ogle. Though he looked a lot younger than I, he was so smart that he imitated my method of getting a better look at the broom. I would have admired him for it, but to tell you the truth, my attention at the time was only on the broom. In fact, I paid him no further attention until I overheard my father talking about us.

“Hello Fleur!” my father said with enthusiasm. “Is that your boy standing next to mine at the window of The Broom Shop?”

“Yes, Mr. Malfoy,” a woman said with a thick French accent. I know French accents from my family’s travels across the channel. “He likes very much to look in the window to the broom, observe he does.” I know, her grammar could use some work, but it is not her native tongue.

“Fleur, I know our families fought on opposite sides of the war, but I switched sides, and we did know each other briefly while at school. Please call me Draco.”

“Mr. Malfoy, my family was in France and did fight not in the war. I am calling you not by your first name because woman married I am and some distance I need with men.”

“Then I will respect your wishes Mrs. Fleur Weasley née Delacour,” he said with such grace that even a nine-year-old could notice it. “Yet, please know that I am so much in love with my wife and son that your Veela charms will have little effect on me.” Yes, I know. My father often says such corny things as that, but I do think he was telling the truth here.

I think some nonverbal communication occurred between them, because what exchanged between them I missed. All I know is that the next thing I knew, the two of them were talking as if they were long lost friends, which they were not. They had both become comfortable with each other and were asking fairly personal questions. For example, my father asked if her husband, Bill Weasley, was ever worried of having a heart attack in bed because his wife was part Veela, and Mrs. Weasley asked about my mother’s blood curse. These are topics I would have never discussed in polite company, though true, Hogwarts students cannot be considered polite company by anyone’s standard.

Then I heard my father say, “I looked over at my son, and I thought someone had hexed me. Because I saw two of them. Then I noticed that one was smaller and younger, and I wondered if Scorpious had cloned himself.” Fleur laughed and called me very handsome. She said I looked very much like her son. From that moment on, I turned to look at her and loved her. I swear it was because she did not think me handsome, but very handsome. Yet, everyone I tell this story to tells me that it was because I fell under her Veela charm. Merlin’s beard, I was only nine at the time, I doubt if the Veela in her could have had much influence on me at all.

Just to be friendly, I began a polite conversation to the boy next to me without looking at him. Yes, I know. That was not very polite of me, but I was only a nine-year-old boy with the newest Nimbus in front of me! Who could blame me? “I am going to ask my dad if he will buy me one. He will probably say no, but there is always hope. Are you going to ask your folks?”

“I hope you get one. Yet, no, they would never buy me one. Some year, I hope they might?”

I thought to myself, some year? He had abandoned all hope for today and only hoped that maybe in some distant year in the future he might be able to get one. That was not very normal for a boy, at least not a wizarding boy. That is when I first really looked at him. I only saw the side of his face for a few seconds, but it was enough. He had the same chiseled face and delicate features that I did, the same button nose, the same light skin color and smooth complexion, the same hair color, type, and nearly the same haircut. His hair was a little longer and had a slight wave about the ears, mine was straight and clipped short, but otherwise, it was the same. He was shorter, lighter, younger, and considering his apparent age, that was expected. I did not get to see his eyes until later, but they differed the most. Mine were a handsome grey blue, his were such a deep shade of ocean blue that one could easily get lost in them. Upon later reflection, he did look like me and hardly looked-liked a Weasley at all. He lacked the tale-tell red hair, the facial freckles, the robust athletic build, and at the time lacked the mischievous eyes. He did share their fixation for concentrating on one thing at a time, as he was demonstrating by his fixation on the broom. Of course, my obsession returned to the broom as well, confirming my father’s impression that we could have been clones.

Later, when we were leaving, I asked my father why the other boy would not even ask his parents for a broom. He looked disturbed by my news and explained that some boys were not as lucky as I. I frowned and pointed out that I was not that lucky, as I did not get the broom I had asked for. He called me into his lap, hugged me, and beeped my noise, saying that I had a mother and father who loved me greatly, a roof over my head, and enough money for all my needs for a lifetime. Although I did not get a new broom, I had my training broom, my old broom, and that I would get a new broom on my second year at Hogwarts. This still did not sound very lucky to me, that meant I would not be getting a new broom for three more years! Yes, I know, I was a prat at the time. What did you expect from a nine-year-old boy who had just seen the broom of his dreams? I was not totally helpless though. Even at that age, I could empathize. From my father’s talk I wondered if the other boy was not as lucky as I because he did not have a mother and father who loved him. This part of my father’s talk I understood, so naturally, I worried that he might not be loved. Why else would his parents never buy him a broom? At age nine, all the talk about a roof over my head and enough money for my needs had no meaning to me. I was a Malfoy and having money and a roof over my head was all I had ever known. Did not everyone have those? Hopefully, you have concluded that I did not understand a lot about the world yet.

After worrying that the cute miniature me might not be loved, I promptly forgot about him for several years. I admit, it was strange that I never thought about him until we both were attending Hogwarts. During my first year, I certainly heard his last name Weasley many times, ran into his cousins on numerous occasions (there were Weasleys in some of my classes), and I even met his sister Dominique briefly. I also talked to others about Dominique being part Veela and wondered about her siblings. Yet, to tell you the truth, I am not sure I ever associated the boy, Louis, I once met as a Weasley or as a part Veela. (I know, the Veela thing should have been obvious after hearing my father’s conversation to his mother, but remember, I was only nine at the time.) What is even more surprising is that my best friend and roommate never to my recollection discussed Louis or that he was a cousin of his.


	2. Chapter 2

That changed right before my second year at Hogwarts. My father was constantly bringing up his name and making trips to ensure that Louis would be attending Hogwarts. I was not privy to most of his conversations and information, but I gathered that there was a boy who was going to be homeschooled by his mother instead of attending Hogwarts. It caught my attention because I wondered why it concerned my father. So what if one eleven-year old boy, who we did not know, would not be attending Hogwarts? Why did my father care? When I asked, his answer was because he was Louis Weasley. This confused me further, because though I knew who the Weasleys were, I could not understand why it was a concern to my father. When I asked, he said that he would have to explain it when he got back, because he had an important meeting with Arthur and Molly Weasley, the grandparents of Louis. After that, I let it go and never brought the issue up again. It therefore came as a surprise that before I boarded the Hogwarts Express, my father asked me to seek out Louis and help him. He said that he would allow me to decide if I wanted to befriend him, but that he hoped that I would at least be cordial to him. He did not need to remind me that when he first went to Hogwarts, that his father had asked him to become cordial with Harry Potter.

After recovering from my surprise, I commented, “So, Louis will be attending Hogwarts instead of being Homeschooled.”

“Is that not obvious?” That was like my father, always instructing me, especially when he thought that I should know the answer already.

“I suppose, it is just that it comes as a surprise. Why the change of plans, and why did he and his family even consider not going to Hogwarts?”

“I am sure that they have their reasons and that it is not really any of your concern.”

“Yet, it was a concern of yours. You were pushing for him to go to Hogwarts, weren’t you?” I cocked my head to my side to better look at him and illustrate my point.

He just smiled warmly at me. “Well, I suppose you got me. I cannot be reasonable and tell you it is not your concern when I made it mine when it really was none of my business.” When I asked if he would tell me, he just smiled and said, “Someday.” I knew it would not be any time soon.

Seeing that he was not going to say more, “So, you want me to be cordial because you expect that someday he will become the next powerful dark lord.” He just laughed and said I should get ready for going to Hogwarts. I was not through though. “Why does he mean so much to you?”

He looked at me intensely, but it was not hard or cold. In fact, his slight upturn at the end of his lips and his dilated pupils informed me that he loved me deeply. I suspect that he was looking me over and counting all the things that he loved. “Well, I suspect that much like your friend Albus, he is tired of living in his family’s shadow. His father is a war hero, as are all the Weasleys of his generation, but it is worse for him because of his family. His mother and all his sisters got the Veela look, the Veela magic, and the Veela charm. Louis sort of has the Veela look, but none of the magic or charm. In fact, he is unique in being the only known male Veela or part Veela in existence. I suspect that much like the Weasleys in my day, he has had to learn to do without, because his parents are now very poor. I also understand that his childhood was rough, and he spent a lot of it in bed as he has been rather frail and prone to getting very sick. And lastly and most importantly, he reminds me of you.” He had a big smile on his face when he said it, but his eyes had lost their focus as if remembering something of my past. He often does that, starts thinking of something I did when I was little, loose his focus and grin from ear to ear. His expression when he tells me of the best day of his life, when I was born, is actually pretty scary.

Well, my father had certainly piqued my interest. I was now dying to meet this Louis Weasley. I knew it would not be very hard, after all, he was a cousin to my best mate. Try as I might, he would not tell me more. It was probably his evil plan to ensure that I would hunt Louis down.

When I was on the train sitting with Albus in a compartment to ourselves, I asked him about his cousin. It was not like I was obsessed or anything and asked right away. We sat and talked about everything, catching up on each other’s news, not that that had been necessary since we had met up at Diagon Alley and had visited each other numerous times during the summer. Still, we had a lot that we had wanted to talk about, and as we were best mates and had no other friends, we literally had to talk to each other. Yes, I know, it is sad that we do not have other people to talk to, but it really is not our fault. Everyone expected great things from Albus, because of who his father was, and because his older brother was pretty great too. Yet, Albus is pretty lousy at magic and in learning things, and he got sorted into House Slytherin, and this was too much for the narrow-minded people who thought of him only as a Potter. Of course, his friendship to me, did not help either. Although I try to be nice, and I am bright, my magic is not the best, and I come from one of the leading houses that fought against Harry Potter. Some people do not like it that Albus and I are best friends. It does not help matters that there is a rumor that I am not the son of Draco Malfoy, that I am the son of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Heck, I can understand why people do not like me. It is bad enough being a Malfoy, I would hate being the son of the last Dark Lord.

About when we were half way to Hogwarts, and after the Trolly Witch had stopped in our compartment, I asked about Louis. Albus’s response was quite unexpected. “Louis? Why do you want to know about that pansy? Do not waste your time on him?” I explained about my father’s request for me to become cordial with him and to look after him. Albus implied that my father must be crazy. “Cordial with him?” The sound of the word him implied that Albus could not believe anyone would find Louis of any interest. “Go ahead if you must, but you will be wasting your time. He is one strange fairy. And as for looking after him, I am sure that he will need a lot of that. He is the most frail and sickly boy that I know.” He then frowned and added, “Well, maybe calling him a boy is a bit of a stretch. But, as he is my cousin, I will be polite.”

“Wow!” I said in surprise. “Albus, do you really dislike him that much?”

“Dislike? No, it is just that there is nothing much to like. He is strange, a weakling, sickly, a coward, he bleeds easily, or more likely, almost all of the time, he cannot play quidditch, and you know about my family, how big they are and how we always play quidditch when we get together, even the girls, but he does not, he plays with dolls instead, he has never flown a broom, and when he was younger, he let his sisters put makeup on him.”

The last one got me laughing. I could imagine a young boy wanting some attention from his older sisters, and let us face it, he was so much younger that they would not want him around much, that he would allow them to put makeup on him to get some attention. Some of the other stuff made some sense too. For example, if he was sickly with a tendency to bleed, I was pretty sure that his mother would not allow him to fly a broom or to play something as dangerous as quidditch. By the way, I still loved his mother dearly, and no it was not because she was a Veela, it was because she had said that I was very handsome. Yes, yes, it was a long time ago, but when a Veela says that about you, it makes a lasting impression. The part about him being a weakling and a coward might fit with his poor health. If he was often sick and unable to do much, I am sure that his muscles would not develop well and that he would not want to take risks. I was unsure of why he was strange and why he played with dolls, but these were not good enough reasons for me to ignore him. That is unless he brought dolls to Hogwarts. If he did that, he would never get along with the other students, especially the boys.

After listing off his reasons for why I should forget about Louis, Albus sat back and relaxed. He therefore was unprepared when I asked him if he would introduce me to his cousins that were new to Hogwarts. Albus had already told me earlier that three new members of his extended family would be entering Hogwarts this year, Lilly Potter, Hugo Weasley, and Louis Weasley. Supposedly, they had all met up beforehand and had planned on sitting together for the ride to Hogwarts. It was a clever Slytherin way for me to get him to introduce me to Louis. The trouble was, Albus was a Slytherin and saw right through my deception. He only begrudgingly agreed.

We asked around, and with all the Weasleys and a smidgen of Potters on the train, we soon were headed towards the first years of the extended Weasley family. I saw them first and said nothing so that I could observe them briefly before Albus would interrupt them. I quickly noticed that Hugo and Lilly were sitting together and talking amiably, leaving Louis alone and by himself quietly sitting in the corner. Hugo and Lilly were both slightly small for first years, both had the Weasley red hair, both had freckles, and both had the ruddy complexion, though Lilly’s freckles were much lighter and not as numerous as most of the other Weasleys. Louis was strikingly different, except for his size. He was the smallest of the three, as blond as I, lacked the Weasley freckles, and had a pale and silky-smooth skin. His hair was striking, it appeared very smooth, glossy, and as soft as clouds. Somehow, he looked familiar to me, but I could not place him at that time.

Before long, Albus saw them, opened the door, and popped in. Hugo and Lilly joyously greeted him while Louis nodded his head. Albus signaled for me to join them and he started to introduce me. Before he got far, Lilly shouted, “Hello Scorpius!” She was overly excited to see me, which reinforced my belief that she was the smartest of the Potters. Seriously, when I first befriended Albus, and met the other Potters, none of them were very friendly or trusting of me, except for Lilly. James eventually came to tolerate me, and later even to like me a little, but not the adults. The best I have been able to accomplish with Harry is toleration.

Albus frowned, and then started his introductions again. “Lilly, you know.”

“Hello to you too Lilly! I am very pleased to see you again!” I shook her hand vigorously.

“This is Hugo, the son and youngest of Ron and Hermione.” I shook his hand and told him I was pleased to meet him. I asked if he dreaded being compared to his mother, who was supposed to be the smartest witch of her year. He grinned and said that his professors would quickly learn that he was no Hermione Granger.

With little warmth, Albus said, “And this is Louis Weasley, the son and youngest of Fleur and Bill.”

I extended my hand and said with my warmest smile, “I am pleased to meet you Louis.”

“Though most of my English relatives call me Louis, the correct pronunciation is Lu-EE, as it is French.” As I corrected my pronunciation, he hesitantly took my hand. As I was shaking it, I looked into his eyes, and got lost in the ocean blue. I knew I had seen him someplace before and had almost placed him when he shocked me out of my thoughts.

“Are you part Veela like me?” That was so unexpected, I was left speechless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is not known how old Louis Weasley is because his birthday has not been published. Although most fanfiction authors make him either James or Albus Potter’s age, I have chosen to make him one year younger than Albus so that he would join Hogwarts with Lilly Potter and Hugo Weasley.


	3. Chapter 3

All his cousins, Albus included, burst into laughter.  Louis looked about the room as if he did not understand what was so funny.  Apparently, he was used to it, as he returned to me as if he expected an answer.  “I did warn you,” Albus whispered to me when he recovered with enough grace and kindness so that Louis would not know he was talking about him.

 

I sat down by the young blond, not too close as he seemed reserved, but not so far away as to seem cold.  I looked at him and said that I thought that he already knew his answer.  I then asked him how many male Veelas and part Veelas there were in existence.

 

“One.”

 

“And who is that?”

 

“Me.”

 

“So, Louis, I cannot be part Veela.  Now can I?”  He then blushed and shook his head in answer.  He was young, and maybe not very socially adept, but he was pretty bright.  The others resumed their small talk, almost as if he was not there.  I turned to look at Albus who was talking, and Louis noticed it.  He probably figured that I and the others would ignore him because his question was so odd.  He turned and started looking sadly out the window, probably realizing that the others had laughed at him because of his question.  It was at that moment I understood how he felt.  He felt apart from the rest of us, like he did not belong among humans.  He was the only male Veela (or part Veela) in existence, he was all alone, and he appeared to be very lonely.  Desiring to make him feel better, I pulled out a chocolate frog from a pocket of my robes and asked if he would like one.

 

“For me?”  The way he said it sounded like he could not believe anyone was offering him one.  I was unsure if he seldom got sweets or if he seldom got gifts from people.  With his large family, I did not like what either implied.

 

Lilly shouted, “Where is mine?”  She definitely had the Potter greed, at least when it came to chocolate.  Not that I did not already know that, so I came prepared.  I pulled out another chocolate frog for her.  I also pulled out a third frog for Hugo.  I could not give one to the others and not to him.  That would never work since I needed to stay on good terms with the Potters and the Weasleys.  At that time, only Louis thanked me.  I am sure that meant something, but I was not sure what at the time.

 

“What about me?” Albus greedily asked.  That meant something too, and I knew exactly what.

 

“Hmm,” I said, “I guess I forgot about you.”  Now that was not smart and poor planning on my part.  I did warn you about the Potter greed for chocolate.  It is from him that I know about Potters and chocolate.  Though Albus says that it is actually from the Weasleys.  Ron Weasley was supposed to be the worst, but my father said that he was greedy about most foods when they were at Hogwarts.  Realizing my mistake, I asked, “Has the Trolly Witch been by this compartment yet?”

 

“Not yet,” Lilly and Hugo answered in unison their mouths full of chocolate.  Louis only blinked.  Unlike the others, he was breaking the chocolate off into small pieces with his delicate fingers and savoring one piece at a time.  Didn’t he ever get chocolate before?

 

“Good, then I can buy more.” I knew I would have to with the Potter greed.

 

“You had better if you want me to remain your friend.”  He might have been serious.

 

“See what I have to put up with?” I said to the first years.  “Let this be a lesson to you.  He,” I said looking at Albus, “is only my friend because I buy him chocolate and other candy.”  I then smiled wickedly and said, “When you make friends, make sure that they are better than Albus Potter!”

 

Hugo snickered, Lilly said that would not be hard, but Louis surprised me again.  “Is that why you gave use the chocolate frogs?”  Once again, I was speechless.  Only Albus snickered this time.  He was my friend and he knew what I was doing, so his snickering did not trouble me.  Lilly and Hugo stopped their chewing as they digested the information from Louis’s question.

 

“Louis,” I said plaintively, “you really should not ask things like that.  When you say things like that, it makes me feel small and it hurts me.”  His eyes went wide in understanding.  He clearly had not intended that.

 

Albus rubbed me on the shoulder and said that it was partly true, but that he still liked me, even though I was small, and even though he did not get a chocolate frog, yet.  He was hoping for one when the Trolly Witch came though.  Hugo went back to eating his chocolate, but it was clear that he had been thinking a lot about our conversation.  He said, “Thank you for the chocolate Scorpius.  And your evil Slytherin plan of getting us to like you is working, but more chocolate may be required.”  His grin showed that he was either joking, or more likely that he had inherited his father’s addiction to chocolate and knew he would be getting more.

 

“You are welcome Hugo,” I warmly said.  “I am a Slytherin, and we Slytherins have evil plans concerning chocolate.  For example, when I buy more, I am planning on eating all of Albus’s chocolate.”  I rubbed my hands eagerly as if I was scheming.  Albus faked that he had been pierced through the heart, and then died on top of his sister.  She yelped as he almost crushed her, knocked the chocolate out of her hand, caught it with one hand, and attempted to eat it before she saved it at the last minute.  He was clearly clowning around, so everyone smiled or laughed, except for Lilly.  She bloody well was prepared to kill her brother over the chocolate.  It then occurred to me, that that was the first time I had seen Louis smile.  He had a gorgeous smile, but it troubled me that he smiled so seldom even when he was around his cousins.  Was he that alone?

 

Albus was soon rewarded as the Trolly Witch stopped by.  I bought two chocolate frogs and an assortment of other candies for everyone.  Albus tried running off with the entire loot, but I cursed him with the Locomotor Mortis spell so that he did not get far.  Lilly suggested that I keep his legs locked until we had eaten his chocolate frogs, but I was a sucker for his entertainment and released him.  I then passed out the candies.  While the others eagerly accepted my handout, Louis thanked me but said that he was not sure it was right that everyone would be eating the candy when only I had paid for it.  I was beginning to see why Albus thought that he was strange.

 

Hugo said to his cousin, “You are right.”  He then made a big show of eagerly biting some stretchy licorice ropes implying the exact opposite of what he had said.  Lilly laughed and Albus snickered.  Louis only watched, looking sad.

 

Albus said between mouthfuls of candy, “Go ahead and eat it Louis.  Scorpious is filthy rich and he likes to feed me candy.”  He looked at me with a mischievous grin that implied that I would not like what was coming.  He often does things like that.  “He knows I am candy deprived, because my mother thinks that candy is so evil that it will turn children into Slytherins and she does not want that.”  Lilly laughed at that.  “Her plan failed because I am a Slytherin, and she still deprives me of candy.  Anyway, because Scorpious likes me so much, he even enjoys spending his money on what should clearly be my candy and giving it away to you!”  I told him that was a pack of lies. 

 

“What part was a lie?”

 

“All of it.”

 

“That you are filthy rich?”

 

“No, that is true,” I said with a smile.  “So is the part about your mother thinking it is evil, so, I’ll even grant that you are sometimes candy deprived.”  He then asked me what was the lie?  “That I like to feed you candy, that it turns children into Slytherins, that it should be your candy, and that I am feeding them candy because you are their relative and I like you so much.”

 

“Wait, what?”  He looked confused.  “If you do not like to feed me candy, then why are you always giving it to me?”

 

“It is a Slytherin trick of mine to keep you from talking.”  I had to suppress my grin with effort. 

 

All his cousins and sister laughed at that and Albus realized that he had walked into it.  He tried to ignore it, though his face turned a bit pink.  He moved on to his next question.  “So, if you are not feeding them candy because I am their relative, then why are you feeding them candy?”  He pointed at all three of his cousins.  Louis teasingly looked concerned.  For the first time, he was starting to play along with us.

 

Actually, we had already had this conversation.  I was feeding them candy to buy their affection and goodwill.  Pathetic, I know, but when your only friend is Albus, you resort to desperate measures.  Yet, I could not admit that, so, I said, “No, that part is true.  The part that was a lie was that I like you so much.  I am feeding them candy because I feel sorry for them that you, Albus, are related to them!”

 

At this, the three younger ones started laughing again.  Albus got exasperated and returned to eating his candy in silence.  He should know better than to go up against me.  His wit was good, but mine was better.  The silence was so golden that I debated not telling him that I was only kidding because I wanted to entertain his relatives.  Yet, his sad puppy green eyes got to me.  After all, he is my best friend.  I moved next to him and told him, making sure that everyone heard.  I think he must have known, because he sure snapped into a happy mood right away.  Of course, he had also just opened a chocolate frog, so that may have been more important than my apology.

 

“Instead of eating it right away, you should see how many jumps you can get out of it first,” Louis said.  He had a chocolate frog on the seat beside him and was encouraging it to jump by touching its tail with his wand.  “Once I got one to jump 6 times.”

 

“Really?”  Albus seemed skeptical.  “They usually only jump once at the first.”

 

“I have already gotten this one to jump 3 times, and I have just started.  You have to be real patient and not eat them right away.”

 

“Eww.  That might be too hard for me.”  He then pretended that he had lost control of his hand which was trying to stuff his face with the chocolate frog.  After a few laughs though, Albus moved over to Louis and started encouraging his frog to jump as well.  He even shouted for glee when Louis’s frog jumped for the fourth time.  Lilly and Hugo took little interest in it, but I watched closely.  This was the first time that I had seen Albus acting this way with Louis.  Seeing him so warm and affectionate while he was playing with his younger cousin brought a smile to my face.

 

Hugo showed me his chocolate frog card and watched me intently.  It was Dumbledore, a rather common card, so it meant little to me.  “Is this not the wizard that your father had a hand in killing?  My father told me all about it.  In fact, he warned us that we should stay away from you.”  The way he said it was not harsh or hateful, but more like it was a fact that he wanted to challenge me with.

 

“Warned us,” I said.  That could only mean that Mr. Ronald Weasley, Hugo’s dad, must have told all of Albus’s cousins to stay away from me and my family.  I had so hoped to have gained some friends this year beyond Albus.  He was the only friend I had at Hogwarts or anywhere for that matter.  It had been going so well with his younger cousins and sister that I was beginning to think this year would be different.  Now, I was going to lose them because of Mr. Weasley, a man I had never even met!  It was just so unfair!  My vision then became blurry and I almost lost it.  I am not sure what happened, but do not ask Albus.  He lies.

 

“Gee!” Hugo exclaimed.  “I did not mean to make you cry!”  I am sure I was not crying.  Malfoys do not cry.  My vision just became blurry and that probably caused my eyes to water a tiny bit.

 

“Scorp?  Are you OK?”  Albus had unusual concern in his voice.  “Are you a little bit over sensitive today?”

 

Lilly then piped in.  “There, there Scorpius,” she said it in a tone as if she was comforting a crying two-year-old.  “Uncle Ron always says stuff like that.  We usually pay him no attention.”  If she thought that hearing that would make me feel better, she was wrong.  It sounded to me like her uncle was always saying stuff about me, and they occasionally paid attention to what he said.  Yet, she did get up and give me a hug, and that made me feel better.

 

Louis again surprised me.  Seeing his cousin hug me, he immediately left his frog, got up, and joined in the hug that Lilly was giving me.  I knew from Albus that the boys in his family were not usually sensitive or affectionate, that they seldom gave hugs.  Louis was clearly different.  He said, “Lilly is right, but she did not tell you that when Uncle Ron spoke, Uncle George defended your family.  He pointed out that Uncle Harry said that Draco could not kill Dumbledore and in fact lowered his wand to accept Dumbledore’s offer.  He just never got the chance to use it.  Uncle George also said that your father came and cried at Uncle Fred’s funeral.  He said that the Malfoys are not all bad, and that we should give you, Scorpius, a chance.  I for one am going to give you that chance.”  And saying that, he hugged me tighter and rested his head against my chest.  That made me feel much better.  I had a chance of calling Lilly and Louis my friends.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Albus then did something that was totally unlike him.  He came over and joined in the group hug that Lilly and Louis were giving me.  He had never hugged me before.  In fact, I do not believe I had ever seen him give another male, including his brother James, a hug.  Somehow, Lilly and Louis must have impressed on him that I needed it, so he complied.  Not only did he comply, but he invited Hugo to do the same.

 

“Thank you, but no.  Boys do not give hugs!”  I am sure Hugo meant to other boys.

 

“They do among friends for special occasions, and this is a special occasion.”  Albus was beginning to sound like he was defending his actions.  When his muscles got tight, I released him from the hug as I knew he was becoming uncomfortable with it.

 

“Come on Hugo,” Louis urged his cousin as he hugged me tighter.  “It will show Scorpious that you are sorry.  Don’t you want to be his friend?  Did you not eat his chocolate?”  Louis’s tact was interesting.  His reasoning was rather advanced for an eleven-year old.

 

“I already said I did not mean to make him cry.”  He rolled his eyes as if that was all that mattered.  He clearly had Gryffindor traits.  “And pleasssse,” he said with emphasis, “how cheap do you think I am?  Do you really think that just because someone gives me chocolate one time that I will become their friend?”  He then grinned evilly and said that it would have to happen at least once more.

 

I looked at Albus; he looked at me knowingly.  “This one has some Slytherin in him.”

 

“Just a tad.  He is mostly Gryffindor, but it appears that he has deep Slytherin roots at least regarding chocolate.  It must have rubbed from me and gotten onto him.”

 

“Knowing how messy you are at eating chocolate, I can easily see that.”  Albus glared at my teasing, but he was unable to think of a comeback.

 

“Are you two always like this?”  Louis obviously had not been around us enough to know.

 

“Yes,” Lilly answered.  She had spent hours in our presence.  “They are almost always like this.  Although it can get annoying, I sometimes enjoy listening to them just to hear my brother lose.”

 

“What?  I do NOT always lose!  Do I Scorp?”

 

“Our bantering is not a question of winning and losing.  It is a highly developed exercise to expand the mental capacity of our brains.  When Albus and I engage in them, he does very well until the point when he becomes confused and gets lost in the exercise.”

 

Albus scrunched his face in confusion.  “Wait.  What?”

 

“I rest my case.”  Hugo only grinned, but Louis and Lilly laughed.

 

“So,” Hugo said with curiosity.  “You think I will be joining House Gryffindor.”

 

“Oh, definitely,” Albus said.  I nodded my head in agreement.  Hugo said that that would be great as both of his parents and most of his cousins were from that house.  He would be glad to join them.  His only regret would be that his older sister would also be there, and that he would rather she could not so easily keep an eye on him.

 

Lilly asked with enthusiasm, “What house do you think I will be sent to?”

 

“Probably Gryffindor.  Don’t you think Scorp?”  Albus turned to look at me for confirmation.

 

“I am not sure.  She is awfully loyal, especially to you and your family, Albus.”  I looked past him and thought.  Yes, loyal and kind, but not so much into hard work.  Not that she was a slacker, but not a hard worker either.  Was that enough for Hufflepuff?  “Loyalty might send her to Hufflepuff.”  After a brief pause, I winked at her and added, “Of course, with your brother in Slytherin, that is a possibility too.”  No one thought a Potter could ever be sent to House Slytherin, and yet Albus was sent there, so it is possible, but not likely.

 

“Is it true Albus?  Could I be sent to your house?”  She looked up to him like he was the big brother who had all the answers.  That demonstrated that she was not material for Ravenclaw.  She was not bright enough.  Of course, I kept that thought to myself.

 

“Not likely Lilly, unless you want to join House Slytherin.  Which house do you want to join?”

 

“Gryffindor with James and most of my cousins.”  That was not unexpected, as of her family and cousins, only Dominique and Albus were not in Gryffindor.

 

“Scorp may not be sure, but I am pretty sure you will be joining Gryffindor.”  I told them that now I agreed with Albus.

 

Louis then asked what house we thought he’d be sent to.  Albus scratched his head and said he was not sure.  He turned to look at me to see what I thought.  “Well, I do not know you that well Louis, so Albus would be better person to listen to.  I will say that I think it unlikely that you will be joining Houses Slytherin and Gryffindor though.”

 

Albus agreed with me, saying that those houses would eat him up.  I agreed but did not say anything.  No, the hat would never send him to a group that would not value him or even destroy him.  He would never fit in with either of those houses and they would never tolerate him.  House Hufflepuff was the most tolerant, and he was so different, he would need that.  He was patient and probably believed in fair play, so that would fit the house.  Yet, was he loyal and hard working?  I did not know.  Ravenclaw was not as tolerant as Hufflepuff but more so than the other two houses.  If they saw that he had intelligence, knowledge, and wit, they would also value him even if he was different.  He clearly had intelligence, so that fit.  He probably did not have much knowledge yet, but I thought it likely that he would develop it.  I did not know about his wit.  “Clearly, you will be sent to either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, but I am not sure which.  What do you think Albus?”

 

“Yes, one of those two, but which I am not sure.”

 

“Louis,” I asked.  “Which house would you like to go to?” 

 

He said that he was not sure.  His sister, Dominique, was in Hufflepuff, so he would not mind that house.  Yet, she was so much older that he would not get to see her much and she would soon be graduating, so maybe Hufflepuff would not be the best house.  He did like books and learning, so Ravenclaw would be OK, but he had no cousins or friends in it.  Most of his cousins were in Gryffindor, so that would be a good house.  Yet, he did not think he would be brave or daring enough.  He surprised me by saying that he would not mind being sent to Slytherin, as he liked our wit, and that he would have at least two friends there.

 

That left both Albus and I speechless.  How could we not take that as a compliment?  How could we tell him that we both hoped he would not be sent to our house because he would never survive it if he was?  Our silence soon alerted Lilly that something was wrong.  Fortunately, Albus recovered and said, “Nothing was wrong.  We were just thinking.  The hat will know where to place all of you.  I am not sure Louis, but I think you have a 60% chance of being sent to Hufflepuff, a 39% chance to Ravenclaw, and less than 1% chance to the other houses.”  He looked to me and his look told me he wanted my opinion.

 

“I pretty much agree with my friend Louis, but I think your chance of joining Ravenclaw is higher than joining Hufflepuff.”  When Albus asked how much higher, I said, “Probably a 75% or higher chance of joining Ravenclaw.”

 

“That much higher than mine.  Hmm.  Do you want to bet a chocolate frog on it?”

 

I smiled and looked at the others, one at a time.  “Okay.  If you lose, you have to buy me, Lilly, Louis, and Hugo a chocolate frog.  If I lose, I have to buy you, Lilly, Louis, and Hugo a chocolate frog.  Is it a bet?”  I put out my hand to shake on it.

 

Albus grinned knowingly and shook my hand.  He knew what my scheme was and approved.  We are both Slytherins after all.

 

Hugo too grew a big smile.  “Oh,” he said with glee.  “I think I am really going to like this bet!”  I had already ensnarled him, my scheming knew no ebb, he was stuck like a bee in a spider’s web.  Only this bee would never know of my fangs and what I’d get out of him without any pangs.  He was mine.  Poor stupid little future Gryffindor.  I almost felt sorry for him.

 

As my eyes left Hugo’s face, I saw that Louis had been watching me.  He grinned and nodded to indicate that he understood my scheme.  From his actions and silence, I could tell he approved.  Clever that one.  He would be a Ravenclaw for sure.

 

We would soon be arriving so that we had to return to our carriage to put on our robes.  Before we left, we told the first years to get ready by putting on their robes.  It startled me when Louis pulled his out.  Unlike Lilly’s and Hugo’s brand-new robes, Louis pulled out an old worn robe.  It had even been resewn in several places where it had once been torn.  It hit me just how poor his immediate family must be.  He had hand-me-down robes even though he was the only boy in the family!  He probably got them from one of his older cousins.  Judging from the numerous rips, James or Fred were good bets.

 

As I left, I said, “If any of you need us for any reason, we will be there for you.  Just come and get us.  If we are behind the Common Room door, just knock and ask to speak to either of us.”  Albus glared at me, but he did not say anything.  I was unsure if he was unhappy about my offer in general or if he was worried that his little sister would abuse it.  I switched tactics to appease him.  “I am excellent in my homework, great in my studies, and good with spell work, so you will find my eager help very useful.”  I know, I was a bit over the top.  “If you have trouble with bullies,” and here I looked specifically at Louis, “or if you are homesick, or just want someone to talk to, come and get me.”

 

Hugo asked, “Why should we come to you?”

 

“You can go to whoever you wish.  Yet, I am offering, and I am very smart.”

 

He thought a bit on that before speaking.  “If you are so smart, then explain why the frequency of children born as squibs has been increasing?  Are wizards who have two or more grandparents who are muggle really at greater risk to having a squib child?”  I was totally startled by these questions.  If it had come from Louis, I would have brushed it off as just something odd.  Yet, this was Hugo.  He was testing me to see if I was worthy, and he must really be interested in this topic.  I knew why he was testing me, but why was he so interested in the topic?  I looked to Albus and using only my eyes pleaded to him for help.  He proved to be a valuable friend.

 

“Scorp, you have to remember that his mother is muggle-born.” 

 

That explained it, Hugo had two muggle grandparents.  I should have noted that he said, “Are wizards who have two or more grandparents.”  He never said wizards and witches.  He was afraid that he might have squib children.  “To my knowledge, no one knows why the frequency of squib births has been increasing.  As for your second question, half-blood wizards who have two muggle grandparents do not have an increased frequency of having squib children.  I can show you the evidence for that if you like.”

 

Hugo smiled and said he would very much like that.  I seemed to have passed his test.  We then said our goodbyes and left for our compartment.  On the way, Albus asked if I was insane offering the first years **_our_** help.  He did not care that I changed it to **_my_** help.  He was afraid that Lilly would pester him, but he was mistaken.  She almost never came to us for help or for anything.  I was slightly disappointed, but I supposed that she had a brother and a lot of cousins to turn to.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a future story about these characters, I hope to return to the concept of the frequency of children born as squibs.


	5. Chapter 5

I did not see them again until they came before the sorting hat.  I noted that Louis was by far the smallest among the first-year boys and girls, though he was not the youngest.  The hat without much thought placed Hugo into Gryffindor, considered Lilly only for a short while before placing her there as well, but took a long time to place Louis.  People were beginning to call it a hatstall, which technically is over 5 minutes, and his sorting was not anywhere near that.  He was the longest of his year though and went to Ravenclaw.  I once asked him why his sorting took so long, but his only reply was that someday he might tell me.

 

After Louis was sorted, I caught Hugo’s eye.  From the smirk he sent back to me, I could tell he was eager for his chocolate.  He did not have to wait long.  I wrote my father to send some, explaining the reason they were needed, and why Albus would be paying for them.  He sent them the next day with a lengthy letter saying that he was happy that I had gotten close to the younger Weasleys and Potter and was thrilled that I had done so with Louis in particular.  That made me wonder what he would think when he learned that I had made a special bond with the boy.  Normally, I would tell my father almost everything.  Yet, I did not want to get his hopes up because I did not know if our bond would last, and I did not know how to explain it.  Why was I bonding with him?  I did not know.  Sure, my dad wanted me to.  Sure, he was a cousin of Albus.  Sure, he kind of looked like a younger me.  Sure, he was smart and liked learning, just like me.  Sure, he was lonely and needed another friend.  Yet, I did not think all of those were enough to explain my bonding to him.  Nor did I understand why he liked me so much.  Hugo liked me because I fed him chocolate and candy.  Lilly liked me mostly because I was her brother’s best friend and I was funny.  Louis liked me more than the two of them, but not for the chocolate, not because I was funny, and not because of Albus.  Sure, those helped, but it was something else that I could not get my hands on.  I was plagued with why we had formed our special bond for a long time.  Finally, I just stopped thinking about it. 

 

After our reunion with the chocolate frogs, I did not see much of any of them for several days because of our busy school schedules and the fact that we sat at different tables during our meals.  That changed one night when I was returning to my Common Room from the library.  I turned the corner and saw Marcus Bletchley, a housemate of my year, shove another boy up against the wall.  I should have recognized the silver-white blond from the back, or his small stature, but there were a lot of other students in the way, and I was not paying attention.  I just wanted to not get involved and into my Common Room and have some peace and quiet.  Slytherins often roughed up people who aggravated them or got in their way, and I just wanted it not to be me.  Yet, as the kid slammed into the wall and cried out in pain, I found myself intervening against my own better judgement.  “Take it easy Marcus!  He’s only a first year and a small one at that!”  No one else was saying anything and the poor first year was totally at Marcus’s mercy.

 

“Shut up Malfoy, or you will be next.”  Marcus did not even need to look at me to make my heart skip a beat.  I knew I was not on the best of terms with him, and he was frankly just dangerous.  Speaking to us about the boy, “He has been spying on us and I am going to get it out of him or kill him.”  Marcus said things like that to make us fear him.  We knew he was exaggerating, but we still feared him.

 

“I was not spying,” the boy cried in alarm.  “Honest, I came here to see my cousin and his ...”  He did not finish as Marcus pulled his hand behind his back and began twisting it painfully. 

 

The voice was clearly that of Louis.  I pushed through the other students who were watching and tapped Marcus on the shoulder.  “Excuse me Marcus,” I said politely not wanting to ruffle his feathers.  “Would you kindly release Albus Potter’s little cousin.  I will vouch for him if needed.”  I raised my eyebrows to let him know I expected an answer.

 

Marcus was a bit slow and clearly did not trust me.  “What will you do if I do not?”  He said it in a way to challenge me, probably hoping that he could fight or duel me.  He did not care if he hurt Louis or me, he just wanted to hurt someone.  He was not all bad though.  At least he was talking to me, and it was clear that he did not know who Louis was when he first accosted him.

 

I backed up a step and tried not to sound confrontational.  “You may not consider me a worthy challenge, but I assure you this is Louis Weasley, and he has many cousins and one sister here at Hogwarts.  I think even you will find his family people you do not wish to offend.  I am sure it will be in your best interest to just release him and drop this matter now.”

 

“He does not look like a Weasley to me.  He’s not ginger.”

 

“Albus Potter is not a ginger, and his mother is a Weasley.  Louis and his sister, Dominique Weasley, look more like their mother than their father.”  That was true, but Dominique had some red in her blond and Louis did not.  I was pleased that Marcus showed some understanding so that I did not have to explain more about their hair color.  With that said, I had had enough of being reasonable.  So, I said in a bored but commanding tone, “Now please release the youngest Weasley.”  Technically, Lilly was the youngest.  Yet, her last name was Potter, and my command sounded much better when I did not say, “the second youngest Weasley.”

 

“OK.  Yet, if you are pulling my leg, I will kill you.”  He then released Louis.

 

I then looked at Louis, made the slightest upturn on the ends of my lips, and said, “Understood.  And I assure you, I, like most here at Hogwarts, do not even want to touch your leg.”  From his brief grin, I knew the young Ravenclaw had caught my wit.  I had so cleverly insulted Marcus, that he had not realized it.  I then put my hand behind the younger boy and ushered him past the Slytherins and into the safety of our Common Room.  After finding Albus, I left them and got a clean rag and some alcohol to clean Louis.  He was bleeding a little from his hand, forehead, and noise, probably from being thrown against the wall.  I wanted to take him to the infirmary, but he did not, and Albus assured me that this was very minor for Louis.  Apparently, Albus had spoken the truth, it was quite common for Louis to bleed.  Fortunately, I quickly stopped his bleeding and cleaned his wounds.  Louis said I should become a doctor, as I had magic for healing.

 

Albus explained that his cousin’s skin was as thin as paper and that his history of being ill was more common than the moon at night.  “That is why he has never joined us in playing Quidditch at our family reunions and his mother never let him play with any of his male cousins.”  He smirked.  “Instead, if he was healthy, he was allowed to play with his sisters and his female cousins.  Why else would he play with dolls?”  Albus said it in a way that implied that this was the worst possible thing that could have happened.  Albus had told me something of this before, but I had thought he had been highly exaggerating, I could see that I had been mistaken.  Louis just got pink in the face, looked down at his shoes, and did not say anything to defend himself.  In fact, he had been awfully quite ever since I had rescued him from Marcus.  He also kept giving me a look that I had not seen before.  Gratitude I could understand, but it was more than that.  Was it warm satisfaction?

 

When I asked why his skin was so thin and why he was so sickly, Louis answered that it had something to do with his being a male Veela.  He meant part Veela, but he figured that I would get that.  When I showed no understanding to what he implied, he added, “There are not supposed to be male Veelas, that is why there are none.  I am the first, and I am only 1/8 Veela.”

 

I felt so stupid as I had already known most of this.  I just had never put it all together and understood what it meant.  Yet, this opened up a whole bunch of other questions.  Such as, would he be sickly for life, and where did baby Veelas come from?  “That does not make sense.  If there are no male Veelas,” I said confused, “then how, err, how, how do they reproduce?”  Do not ask me why, but my face became warm. 

 

My embarrassment must have really showed because Albus started snickering.  Louis just smiled.  “I do not know, but it certainly is not sexually.”  His smile grew into the biggest impish grin ever.  “That is one thing I can hardly wait to be the first at.  The first male Veela engaging in sex.”

 

Albus died of laughter.  After a bit, he barely choked out, “Sorry there little cous.  I think you have to wait until you have developed a lot more down there.”  He then burst into renewed laughter, but I was not paying him any attention. 

 

Probably because I had just entered puberty, the conversation caused me to daydream.  I lost my focus when Louis’s words reminded me of a dream I had last night.  In the dream, Louis had said nearly exactly the same thing, that he could not wait to be the first male Veela to engage in sex.  He then began dancing, bringing two girls under his Veela seduction.  I too joined the dance, only it was not the wizard me, I was a Veela or became a Veela.  I am unsure which, and the dream did not explain it.  We broke into boy-girl pairs, with the boys removing their shirts as they danced to continue their seduction.  After this, we each kissed our female partner once while we danced, bringing them totally under our spell.  We then ordered them to dance, and they could not refuse.  As the girls danced with us, they removed the rest of our clothes without our prompting.  It was hot!  As we danced naked, we kissed them repeatedly, disapparating a piece of their clothing with each kiss.  Did I forget to mention that this was my first wet dream?

 

I came back to reality when I heard my name.  “Scorp?  Scorp?  Is anything wrong?  You were out of it for quite a bit.”  Albus brought his face close to look into my eyes.  “Why did you have a silly grin on your face?  Are you OK?”  He was looking at me with great concern.

 

“I’m fine.  I was just remembering my dream last night.”  My cheeks became warm again.  Albus just looked at me confused, but Louis quickly glanced at the bulge in my pants, grinned, and winked at me.  He said it must have been a really, really good dream.  My cheeks got warmer and I looked at my shoes.  I do not know how, but somehow, he knew what I had been daydreaming. 

 

Things continued pretty-much like this every night for a week.  After dinner, Louis would either join up with Albus and I, find us someplace around the castle, or come down to the Slytherin Common Room to be with us.  I thought it a bit excessive but was OK with it.  Albus was not and complained about him.  I explained that Louis was hanging around us a lot because he had not made any friends yet in Ravenclaw. 

 

Albus said that that was the problem.  That his cousin had no balls, so he had been too shy to attempt to make new friends.  That he would need to be forced to make new friends, and that that might help him grow something down where it counted.  He eventually told Louis that he had to make friends in Ravenclaw because he was not allowed to be with us more than once a week.  Louis did not take it well.  He cried with actual tears, begging us not to do it.  He even told us that James, Albus’s brother, and Hugo had told him something similar a week earlier when he tried to meet up with Hugo or Lilly in the Gryffindor Common room.

 

Because he seemed so lonely, I was torn about restricting Louis, but I understood what Albus was trying to do.  He did get annoyed at his little cousin and considered him weird or worse, but he did care about him.  Otherwise, he would not have allowed him to hang with us once a week.  No, he was trying to force Louis into making friends with the other Ravenclaws, especially the first years.  As we were a class ahead of him and in a different house, it made sense.  Still, I told Louis that if he needed my help for some homework or anything, I would be there for him, though I suggested that we meet in the library so that Albus would not find out about it.  Louis did come to me for a lot of help, most of which was stuff he needed no help on at all, so I had to shut him off too.  After a few days, I told him that he could continue coming to me for help, but that if I thought he was coming to me for a reason that he did not need help on, I would send him away.  When he noticed that I was sending him away for most of the things he brought me, he finally got the hint and cut it down to meeting me about once a week in the library and hanging out with Albus and I once a week.  He did ask if he could say hi to us after dinner, and even Albus was OK with that.  He soon became friendly with though not friends with a number of Ravenclaws, so that he started hanging out with them.  Albus never let me forget that he had been right about what Louis needed.  Never!


	6. Chapter 6

One Friday night late in the fall as curfew was approaching too fast, Albus and I were out goofing around in the castle. Most students were because we were letting off steam from our hard week of studies and looking forward to the weekend. As Albus and I rounded a corner, we bumped into Louis and Hugo. They joined us, and we went on to cause terror and trouble for other students and the Hogwarts’ staff. We were running away from some Hufflepuffs who we had just played a prank on when we rounded a corner and ran into five seventh year students, two boys and three girls. One boy-girl pair was smooching heavily against the wall, while the second boy was tied up with the Incarcerous spell and was being tickled to death by the two remaining girls. The tied-up boy’s shirt was all messed up and partially ripped open, revealing his chest and belly, but he appeared to greatly enjoy his vulnerable situation. Ordinarily, we would have just shied away from them because they were so much older and untouchable to us. However, the tied-up boy was none other than Jake Wood, Gryffindor prefect, Captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team, and the boyfriend of Dominique Weasley. To see him in such a compromising position was startling to say the least.

Hugo was the first one to recover; he suggested that we should leave. I could tell from his tone that he meant we should leave at once. Albus muttered his agreement, though he like me, had trouble tearing his eyes away from the scandalous situation. And do not think for a moment that we Slytherins were considering how much money we could make from blackmail. Sure, he was in a compromising position. Sure, he would want to keep his girlfriend from knowing what he had been doing, unless he wanted to lose her. Sure, his girlfriend would hex him into the next continent if she were to hear of it. Sure, Slytherins enjoy making money any way they can. Yet, both the Slytherins who were present never entertained an idea such as blackmail. No, not them. Besides, money is not much good if you cannot spend it because you are dead.

Louis was the last to recover, if recover was the right word to use for him. He marched his little frame straight up to Jake, placed his feet widely apart to brace himself, took out his wand, crossed his arms over his chest, and glared Jake right in the eyes. I do not know how such a small boy could manage it, but he looked as if he was going to be Jake’s worst nightmare. “I do not care what you do, or who you date, or whether you date my sister or not. Yet, if you hurt her in any way, I will come after you, and you will answer to me.” His voice was calm, collected, and commanding. He then raised it in anger. “Do you understand?” Even though he just threatened a prefect, someone who knew many more powerful spells, and someone who was much stronger than he was, he sounded fearless. 

We were all dumbstruck, and this included the other seventh-years. Jake just rolled his eyes as if he had dealt with an insane Louis before. He quietly asked the girls to release him so that he could talk to his little pipsqueak. His choice of words implied that he knew that if he was going to date Dominque, he had to put up with her little brother. After being untied, he asked the other seventh years to please leave so that he could have some privacy to handle the situation. The other male seventh-year, who I did not know, joked that maybe they should stay in case he needed some backup. After all, they were not sure that Jake could take on one small first year all by himself. They all laughed at this but left.

Jake turned to look at the rest of us who had come with Louis. He told us that if we did not want to be threatened, that we should leave and not say a word about what we had seen to anybody. Hugo voiced his intention to leave, saying that we should have left when he had suggested it. Albus agreed. I, however said, “I am a Slytherin; I am used to threats. I am staying. I think I should to be a voice of reason and a witness for how this will play out.” Let’s be honest. I was afraid without a witness that Louis would end up dead.

Hugo and Albus looked at each other uncomfortably. Clearly, they both wanted to leave but were unsure if they should leave their cousin alone to face his hopeless fate. Albus made the decision. He told Hugo to go, that he would stay and look after the others. He made it clear that he was not going to tell anyone about what he had seen or was about to see. That was typical of Albus, trying to keep his feet in both camps, to be both loyal to Louis but also accommodating to Jake. Hugo was similar but different. He left, but only after telling Jake that his lips were sealed and after telling Louis that he would check up on him. His response seemed more Slytherin than Gryffindor to me. You would think that that would not disappoint me, but it did.

Jake turned to Louis who had not moved. No, not an inch during all that time. In fact, I never even saw him blink, though with my many distractions, I could have missed a single blink. He was still trying to stare down Jake, which looked comical considering that he was more than two feet shorter than the seventh-year prefect. “Pipsqueak, this is your last chance to leave and never say a word.”

“You think I am going to tell my sister? You have no fear there. She made the mistake of following in love with you. I cannot do a thing about that. Telling her would only hurt her. I will not do that, and if you hurt her, you will answer to me.”

Whatever Jake had expected, he had not expected that. His head jerked back, and his eyes opened wide. He stepped back and considered his next move. He must have concluded that we needed reminding of who he was and how threatening he could be. “If word of this gets back to her, I will beat the pulp out of all of you.” He squinted his eyes to make himself look mean. “I will also make your life a living hell. As I am a prefect, I will find all sorts of reasons to give you detention and demerits, such as for looking at me inappropriately. And I will hex you day and night until you fail all your classes. I suggest you all just walk away right now.”

Well, he graciously was allowing us a way out, but I knew Louis would never take it. Maybe he was just hoping that all the witnesses would leave. Albus responded for us, “Now, now Jake. There is no reason to threaten us. We have already told you that our lips are sealed. You only have to reach an agreement with Louis, not with us.” His reply was good enough for me, so I remained silent. So did Louis, who still had not moved and was still standing in front of Jake trying to intimidate him. Maybe it would have worked if he had not been so small and six years younger.

“OK, pipsqueak, you asked for it.” He then stepped up to Louis, grabbed him by his skinny little neck with one hand and lifted him off the ground. Fortunately, Louis was so light and small that this did not appear to hurt him, though it could not have been comfortable. I am also not sure why he did not have trouble breathing. “You are forgetting that I can break your neck without even trying. I can also put you under the Imperius Curse if I need to.” That was interesting. Few at Hogwarts could threaten with that, and I never suspected that a squeaky-clean school prefect would have learned an unforgivable.

Despite being in a hopeless position, Louis never even flinched. “And you are forgetting that she is my sister. I will do whatever it takes to see that she is not hurt.”

Jake frowned as if he once again had not expected Louis’s reply. “I respect that. I have never liked you, but I respect you. You can do nothing to me, other than telling her what I was doing, and that will hurt her. I am sure you do not believe me, but I do not want to hurt her. So, you will back down.” His last sentence was said slowly one word at a time to emphasize his point. 

I am not sure, but from the way Louis squirmed, I think Jake was squeezing his neck as well to emphasize his point. This prompted my mouth to open and speak before my more self-preserving Slytherin brain regained control. “Jake, if you hurt him, you will have to deal with me as well.” It was an empty threat, and everyone knew it. 

Jake angrily looked at me. “Are you forgetting who you are talking to? I think I can easily manage two second years and a first year without breaking a sweat.” Albus looked sickly from fear and appeared to be considering bolting away. To his credit, he bravely remained, demonstrating that he did have a lot of Gryffindor in him when he needed it.

When Louis regained the ability to breath, he spat, “And you are forgetting that I have cousins, lots of them. You will have to deal with them as well. You are unlikely to be able to deal with all of us, but even if you do, I also have lots of uncles. I am sure you have heard of my Weasley and Potter uncles.” He grinned like the spawn of the devil he truly was. I was astounded. Here he was being held up by his neck, and he had just found a way to turn the tables on Jake. 

Jake blinked, set Louis down on his feet gently, and started brushing off the lint and dust from the kid’s clothes. “Are you OK?” He asked as if someone else had just been holding him up by his neck. He bit his lip and said, “I never meant to hurt your sister. I just was not thinking. I was only thinking about myself and what I wanted. When the two started playing with me, I played back.” He grinned at us, as if we would all understand the temptation that two beautiful young ladies could exert on a young man. I could understand it of course, but as Albus and Louis were not in puberty yet, how the heck did he expect them to understand? What an idiot! “It was wrong of me. Please do not tell Dom.” He then looked at Louis like he was begging. That was unexpected. He must really like her.

Louis said in a commanding tone that only he could have pulled off, “I have already told you, I am not going to tell her. It would only hurt her. Now, if you want to make up for what you have done, go to her, and make it up to her. And I do not want to see you doing something that will hurt her again.”

“What?” It was a simultaneous response from Jake, Albus, and myself. Louis was unpredictable, that was for sure. Jake was the first to understand. “You really think that she loves me, don’t you?” Louis just nodded his head. “OK,” Jake said. “I think I will go see her.” He then looked at Louis and raised his eyebrows. “I think I was wrong about you. And thank you.” He then left in a somewhat confused state. Believe me, I think I understood his confusion. 

Albus blinked once and looked at Jake’s retreating back. He then looked at Louis and blinked again. Lastly, he looked at me and asked, “What the heck just happened?”

“I am not exactly sure. Yet, Louis just successfully stood up to Jake Wood, a seventh year and school prefect, got him to back down, and got him to make it up to his girlfriend.” I grinned at my roommate. “And you have never been more mistaken in your life about Louis. You said he had no balls.” 

Albus returned my grin as we both could not believe what had just happened. We turned to look at Louis. Other than a very slight grin of satisfaction, he was taking it all in stride. Indeed, he was acting just like it was any other day. “Shall we go back to pranking others before curfew begins, or do you want to call it a night? If you do call it a night, do you mind if I follow you to your Common Room? I would like that very much.” As he said this, he then turned his ocean blue eyes upon us one at a time. They were filled with hope that we would say yes to either question. And you could tell that he did not care what we did, he just wanted to be with us. He was like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A part of this page was inspired by a story I once read about Louis threatening the much older boyfriend of his sister. Louis had stumbled upon the boyfriend in an incriminating situation and had wanted to protect his sister. You can find it at:  
> https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5334568/1/Pretty-Boy


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit short, but this is the best place to break it. Hopefully, you will agree when I post the next chapter.

After that, Albus concluded that we could see Louis twice a week, one more time than we had agreed on previously.  I think that he was really impressed by his cousin, as I know I was.  Albus suggested that we do the second get together in the Ravenclaw Common Room.  I suggested that we vary the location, sometimes having it in the Gryffindor Common Room so that we could also get together with Hugo and Lilly.  Albus and Louis liked my idea, so we invited Hugo and Lilly to join us, meeting sometimes in Ravenclaw, sometimes in Gryffindor, and sometimes in Slytherin.  Hugo and Lilly often joined us, but after the first gathering in the Common Room of Slytherin, they never joined us there again.  I suspect the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin was just too great, plus some of the Slytherin students, such as Marcus Bletchley, did not make them feel very welcome.

 

I was glad we got our friendly gatherings established when we did, because Louis shortly afterward came down with a cold that developed into pneumonia.  To say he almost died might be a slight exaggeration, but he was confined to a bed in the infirmary for weeks.  Even the skilled Madam Pomfrey was at her wits end trying to keep him from getting worse.  She and I came to the realization that he really was a very frail boy. 

 

Surprisingly, he seemed to take it all in stride and stayed in a good spirit whenever I saw him.  Though I later learned that he was just happy to have us visit him.  He even had his homework sent up to him and kept up in all but one of his classes.  It helped that four of his professors, Dennis Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Neville Longbottom, and Cuthbert Binns came to his sickbed and gave him private lessons.  Their taking the time out of their busy schedules was a testament to how much they appreciated his presence and participation in their class.  Professors Creevey, Finch-Fletchley, and Longbottom were known to be very interested in their students, but to do this without pay for several weeks?  (OK, Professor Longbottom was almost family to the Weasleys, so him I can understand.  Yet, what about the others?)  It was even more astounding that Professor Binns did this, as that ghost did not appear to know any of his student’s names or to care about anyone or anything except for teaching the History of Magic.  Albus and I tutored him in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Potions, which kept him up in all his classes except for Astronomy.  He was unable to go outside at night and use the telescope, besides being unable to stand, so he fell drastically behind in Astronomy.  He almost fell behind in Potions, as Madam Pomfrey would not allow a cauldron to brew his potions in the infirmary, but when it became obvious that he would be in bed for a long while, she relented after Albus pleaded with her for 101 times.  If Albus surprised you, let me tell you that his actions surprised me too.  I mean, I know that he is not a bad person, he is my best friend after all, but sometimes he does not seem to be the nicest person to his little cousin.  He is not that way to his other cousins or anyone else, only to Louis.  Well, maybe he has a similar relation to his older brother.  I am not sure I understand what is going on with him, but it is almost like he has a love-hate relation with his cousin and his brother. 

 

As the winter approached, the weather cooled, Louis recovered and went back to his classes, and everyone at Hogwarts was getting ready for the Winter Ball.  I am not sure of the specifics, but many older female students petitioned the headmistress to have a formal ball.  They wanted a formal occasion for a boy, or their boyfriend if they had one, to dress up extra fancy, treat them especially nice, get them a small gift, and then show off with them on the dance floor.  Plus, the girls would have an excuse for their families to buy them a formal dancing costume, dress, shoes, matching socks and gloves, possibly a hat or veil, and a robe, coat, or vest.  The boys had to ask a girl to be their date, face the humiliation of possibly being rejected, buy their date a small gift, and ask their families to buy them formal dancing clothes.  The girls had little if any expense and simply let their families or their dance partner do all the work and pay for the expense.  Needless to say, no boy signed the petition.  Yet, headmistress Minerva McGonagall liked the concept and agreed to have a Winter Ball.  It was not a Christmas Ball, as it was held before the Christmas break.

 

In the past, the younger students were not allowed to attend, unless they were invited by a fourth year or older student.  Yet when the headmistress learned that many of her younger students wished they could watch the older dancing couples, she allowed all years to attend till 10 PM.  After ten, all the younger students had to leave for bed.  James Potter, Fred Weasley II, Molly Weasley II, and Dominque Weasley planned to dance, though only Dominque had a steady boyfriend.  Albus, Lilly, Hugo, most of the remaining Weasleys at Hogwarts, and I planned to watch.  I even wrote my father for some funds so that I could obtain some special clothes to watch the dance.  What can I say?  I am a Malfoy aren’t I?

 

One night at dinner as the boys were making feverish attempts to find a date to the dance, Albus and I observed Louis get up from his table and gingerly approach the headmistress.  The two had a short conversation that initially surprised the headmistress, turned into confusion, and ended in her showing a frown.  Louis seemed unaffected and simply returned to his table.  Unable to contain my curiosity, I left dinner early and went to ask him what he had spoken to Professor McGonagall about. 

 

“I asked her what she would think if one of her students were to ask her for one dance during the Winter Ball.  Would she consider it, or would she say no outright?  When she asked if I was thinking of asking her for a dance, I told her that I was thinking about it.”  He said it like it was common news, like a first-year crashing into a wall while flying, or that there was another explosion in the potion’s classroom.  These things happened all the time at Hogwarts, but not asking the headmistress to a dance.

 

“What?  Are you mental?”  I practically shouted at him.  This caused nearly all the Ravenclaws and many others to turn towards our conversation.  Several of them stood and came to defend their housemate.  They obviously concluded that I could easily overpower Louis in both magic and in physical strength.  I tried to calm them down, as I was not a threat to Louis, but they did not trust me, probably because I was a Slytherin, even though I had been hanging around him since the start of the year.  They only left when Louis spoke in my defense.

 

“You do not approve?”  He looked at me with innocence as he blinked his deep blue eyes.  “Why?  Do you think she is too old for me?”  His silly grin told me that he really enjoyed his last remark.

 

“It is not a question of my approval.  And yes, she is a bit old for you.  I think she is a bit old for your grandfather Weasley!”

 

“You leave my grandfather out of this!”

 

“Do you realize what people will think?  Everyone will be talking about you!”

 

“I know.  I am counting on it.  I want it!”  There was an unmistakable gleam in his eyes. 

 

I was dumbfounded.  His intensity told me that it was useless to try and reason with him.  He was going to ask her.  I could only hope that she would say no.  And where had this Louis Weasley come from?  Albus and I were afraid to ask anyone to the Winter Ball.  He was going to ask the headmistress?  The Louis I had met on the Hogwarts Express was shy and reserved even around his cousins, he would never dare to ask anyone to the ball, let alone the oldest and most powerful witch at Hogwarts.  And she was the headmistress!

 

There was nothing that I could do, so, I decided not to think about it.  There was always hope that either Louis or headmistress McGonagall would get struck by lightning.  Yah, not very likely, but she hopefully would say no.  It was a mistake to push it out of my mind and not talk about it, because that way Albus never heard about it.  He never forgave me for not telling him, not that there was anything he could have done.  Not surprisingly, Louis asked her in our presence.  I suspect that around us, the little twerp was a little more daring, but who knows.  We had been pranking other students one night when the headmistress walked by.  She did not seem angry, but she did ask us what we were doing.  Albus said that we were doing nothing, which was hardly the truth.  When she glared at us, I added that we had been doing nothing wrong.  Which technically was true, but I suppose it depends on your definition of wrong.  I explained that we were only doing silly pranks on our fellow students, like making pies appear magically that hit people in the face and shooting water from our wands to make it look like boys had wet their pants.  Of course, I did not mention our most horrible pranks, no, they would have gotten us into trouble.  She seemed to like my answer, told us to carry on, and then turned to leave.

 


	8. Chapter 8

That is when Louis ran up to her and said, “Excuse me headmistress.  May I ask you something?  I can walk with you if you have little time.”

 

“Of course.  And I will always make time for my students,” and she looked down at him the way my mother sometimes looks at me, “especially one as dedicated in his studies as you, Mr. Weasley.  Yet, if it concerns what you asked me at dinner last night, my answer is no.”  I let out a sigh of relief.

 

“What?”  Louis looked confused.  “Your favorite dance is not the Foxtrot?  That is what I wanted to ask?”  He looked at her all innocent as if he did not know what her no had been about.

 

“What?  Louis, how did you know that the Foxtrot was my favorite dance?”

 

“I have been asking around.  My source said that in your days at Hogwarts, you really liked to dance.  I hear that you were very good at it, especially your favorite, the Foxtrot.  My source said you were probably the best witch of your age in many things, but especially of the Foxtrot.”

 

She smiled widely as her eyes lost their focus.  For just a second, she was silent, as if she were lost in her memories from a time long ago.  “I am not sure what to say.  Your source flatters me, is essentially correct, though the best witch at the Foxtrot is open to debate. Yet, your source is also impossible.  There is no one at Hogwarts who could have told you such things.  There are few people alive anywhere who still remember those days.  Are you trying to flatter me with lies?”  For the first time she looked down at him sharply. 

 

“They are not lies though, are they?”  He once again looked at her with his blue eyes full of innocence.  “The key words were there is no one **alive** at Hogwarts who could have told me.”  He had put emphasis on the word alive.

 

“Your source is not alive?”  She was quick in her answer and looked surprised.  “One of the ghosts?”  Louis nodded his head.  “The ghosts do not pay that much attention to the living.  How could one of them tell you so much?”

 

“He was alive when you were a student at Hogwarts.”

 

“Professor Binns.”  Louis nodded again.  She smiled warmly.  “So, he still remembers.”  She looked down at Louis and made eye contact.  “I was one of the few students who really enjoyed his history lessons, so I am not surprised that he noticed that much about me.  He really said I was the best witch of my age to dance the Foxtrot?”   Louis nodded again.  She then squinted her eyes at him.  “How in the world did you get him to notice you and then to tell you all this information?  He is a ghost, and he does not much notice or interact with the living.”  He shrugged his shoulders.  She then looked at him sharply.  “In fact, you are the only student I know of that he has tutored when you were sick.”

 

“Well, I am the only one in my class who finds him fascinating.  I might be the only one at Hogwarts who has for a long time.  He once told me he is not used to students asking questions, especially insightful ones.”  Louis proudly smiled upon saying that.  It probably was rare to be complimented by a ghost.  “I mean, I know he talks in a monotone, is kind of boring, and I really do not much care for all his dates.  Yet, when you look past all that, he talks about the causes of things, such as the Goblin War.  We could learn from our history to improve our relations with the goblins today.  He’s also told me what he thinks led up to the last Wizarding War, and I agree.  We should discourage inbreeding among the pure-blood families and hold them up as beacons of light for the wizarding world.  For example, these families have not seen the increase in the number of squib births that the rest of the wizarding world has.  Anyway, if we do not learn from our history, and if another Dark Lord were to arise, we will have another war as devastating as the last!”  You could tell from the zeal in his voice and the fire in his eyes that he believed this with a passion.

 

“I see.”  Those few words acknowledged that Louis had won over Professor Binns and gotten him to tell him all about Professor McGonagall.  She did not look disappointed, rather, I’d say she looked impressed.

 

“Did you really enjoy dancing back then?”  Professor McGonagall only nodded, but her smile spoke volumes that she did not.  “Do you miss dancing?”

 

She tilted her head and scowled at him.  “I think I know where you are going with this.”

 

Louis grinned.  “I’ll take that as a yes, only that you did not want to answer.”  He then grabbed her right hand and got down on his knees.  In his most formal voice possible he said, “Minerva McGonagall, will you do me the honor of dancing one dance with me.”  If it had been two lovestruck teenagers, it would have been a very romantic scene.  Yet, because it was the smallest eleven-year-old boy asking the oldest witch in the castle, it looked comical.

 

She sighed and said no, it would not be appropriate.  She pulled him into a standing position and then broke his hand contact.  “How can it not be appropriate?  It is not as if I can get you pregnant or something.”

 

She laughed at that and thanked him for not telling her that she was too old to get pregnant.  “No, it is not appropriate because you are my student and our age differences are too great.”

 

“I am not asking to get married, nor am I asking for a date.  All I want is one dance.  So, what does our age difference matter?  As for my parents and all my family, they will not think it is inappropriate.  They like you.”  He then turned to look at Albus.  “Isn’t that right Albus.”

 

Albus turned beet red and asked to be left out of it.  When Louis insisted, he answered, “No, I do not find it inappropriate.  Yet, it is kind of weird.”

 

“Louis, you are a bright charming young wizard.  You do not need to dance with an old witch.  Ask a witch your own age.”

 

“Do not say that about yourself.  You are as young as you feel.  And, I have asked every girl my own age.  Talk about humiliation, everyone refused.”  That was news to me.  I had not known Louis had asked anyone.

 

“So, I am your backup.”

 

He looked up at her with his big, sad puppy blue eyes.  “How could you think that of me?  You were never my backup.  I asked them to dance one dance and only one dance with me.  I always intended to ask you for a dance.  Besides, I want to dance the Foxtrot, and none of them know it.  Only you do, at least of the people I have asked.”

 

“You know the Foxtrot?”  Her tone was surprised.  “It has not been danced in many years.”

 

“Yes, grandmaman Weasley taught me.”  He looked up at her with all his charm.  “Will you dance the Foxtrot with me just one time.”  He grinned and promised that he’d be a perfect gentleman.  With the headmistress, he’d better be!

 

“I am old enough to be your grandmother.”

 

He winked at her, “Older, but who cares?  Please say yes as I know you like to dance.  I suspect you have not been asked in a long time, and you may not get another chance.  You will be doing me a favor as well.  Because if you say no, everyone will have told me no, so I will not be able to dance even a single dance.”

 

She looked at him for the longest time.  Eventually, she sighed.  “Okay, you will not be buying me a gift, and I will need to buy a new dress.”  She was laying out conditions, but why was she telling him about her dress?  Why would he care?

 

Louis jumped for joy and nearly touched the ceiling.  He thanked her and asked if there was anything he could do for her.  She said no and sent him on his way.  Albus looked at me and said that he had done it again.

 

I smirked at my friend and said, “Yes, it appears he has.”

 

Louis rejoined us and asked what we wanted to do.  Albus answered that he wanted to find a toilet and throw up.  He left us, though whether he found a toilet and whether he threw up is a subject I never inquired about.  I do not think I ever will.

 

After Albus left, I turned my attention to Louis.  “Not meaning to rain down on your parade, young Veela, but do you have anything to wear to the ball?”

 

“Can I not wear what I have on?”  I gave him a dirty look.  “No, well how about my dress robes.”

 

“Still no.”  I knew his wardrobe, it was scanty enough to memorize.  He had nothing at Hogwarts that would be suitable.  “Do you have any dancing clothes at home.”

 

“What are dancing clothes?”

 

If he did not know, I doubted that he had any.  “Anything very fancy, very elegant.  Something that makes you look distinguished.”  He shook his head.  “Can you borrow some from a family member?”

 

“Doubtful.  My immediate family is all girls, and of all my male cousins, only Hugo is close to my size.  I doubt he has dancing clothes.”

 

I doubted it too.  Indeed, I doubted that Hugo could dance.  “I could buy or loan you the money.”

 

“No, my folks will never let me accept charity.”  He did not say it, but I could tell he thought that they would never let him accept one bronze Knut from me or my father. “And, I would never be able to repay the loan.”

 

“I might have an acceptable dancing suit at home that is now too small for me.  It may fit as it fit me two years ago.”  I pointed out that if he returned it to me, it would not be charity.  Not that I would ever want it back, but I knew that he would never accept it as charity.

 

He grinned at me.  “Are you insulting my size and manhood?”

 

Darn, he may not have his family’s Veela powers, but he was as charming as one anyway.  He had taken an awkward situation about accepting my pseudo-charity and turned it into a joke.  I grinned back and told him yes.  I then offered to ask my father to send it if he wanted it.  I know he did not want to ask me, but I needed to hear it.  When he said yes, I desperately hoped that my folks had not gone through my wardrobe at home and given it away.  I needed it right here, right now, and if I needed to, I would pay whatever it took to get it.  I was not sure why, but I knew I had to.

 

I wrote my father the next morning.  He immediately wrote back that he was delighted that my **_close_** friend Louis, with an emphasis on the word close, would find a use for my old dancing suit, and that he would send it with the evening owl post.

 

I wrote back that I never said who would be using my old suit, and that I never said that I was close to Louis.  He wrote back that of all the boys at Hogwarts, only Louis would be small enough to wear it and that I would only loan out something from my wardrobe to a close friend.  He noted that I had only loaned out things to Albus, and even that was with reluctance.  He told me that if I wanted to hide things from him, then I would have to do a better job.  Not that I minded that he knew, indeed, I was tickled that he was getting such a kick out of it.

 

 

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

The suit arrived that evening. After dinner, I showed it to Louis, and he was impressed by its look and silky feel. I was afraid that he would not like the fact that the pants were short pants, as it was a suit for a younger boy, but he liked it. I think he thought it would help him stand out among the others because he would probably be the only boy wearing short dress pants. We went to an empty classroom, and he tried it on. It was a little loose around the waist, probably because it had been expanded to allow me to wear it for a little bit longer. I suggested that we go to a tailor and have them alter it back to his size. When he said he could not afford it, I suggested that since it was my clothes that I should pay for it. We just would not tell anyone that we had altered it. He grimaced but supposed that I could do what I wanted with it since it was my piece of property.

 

We got permission from the headmistress to go to a tailor in Hogsmeade during our lunch break, if we took a sack lunch. We thought that last stipulation was something we could live with, and in fact, we were pleased that we did not have to miss lunch. We started eating it before we left the castle on our route to Hogsmeade. I had to go anyway because I was getting some new clothes for the ball. Boy, did I have a tough time convincing McGonagall that I was picking up some dancing clothes for the ball, even though I had no date and was not planning on dancing. She never said that I might be lying just so I could go with Louis, but she sure implied it. Maybe she was just teasing me, since she certainly knew that I was a Malfoy and we Malfoys did things like that.

 

Shortly after arriving at the tailors, we almost got thrown out for life. We were greeted by an elderly lady who was older than my gramma. She was very polite and complimented us on how handsome we both looked. She thought we were brothers because we looked so much alike, and she found it hard to believe that we were unrelated and were only friends. I explained to her that I needed to pick up my order and that we needed to have the waist pulled in on Louis’s dress pants. We then showed her the suit that Louis was carrying. She told him to put it on, asked for my name, and told me to follow her. She picked up my order from behind the counter, looked up, and shouted in a shrill voice that almost made me deaf, “What the heck do you think you are doing young man?!” I turned around as did everyone else in the store and looked at Louis. I turned beet red as the other store customers gasped in dismay or snickered. Louis was standing in the middle of the store in nothing but his underpants and socks with his other clothes piled disorderly at his feet.

 

He looked helpless and pathetic, but that was my opinion. “Err, you told me to put the suit on.” He sounded confused and afraid. That brought out snickering from all the customers but me, and from a few of the staff.

 

“You! Cover yourself and march right into the changing room this minute!” She was still shouting unkindly and looked about ready to blow her top. Fortunately, I was able to move away to save my ears. “And if I ever see any more monkey business from you and your friend, you will never be allowed in here again. Do you understand me mister?”

 

“Err, I think so,” he nervously said. He looked widely about the place trying to spot the changing room while attempting to blindly pick up his clothes at the same time. He clearly did not know where the changing room was and may not have known what one was. The fact that many people were watching him only made him more nervous. If I had not been so embarrassed, I would have found it comical.

 

I quickly grabbed his shirt, wrapped it around his skinny waist, and told him to follow me. I then shoved him not too gently behind a curtain, shut it, and prepared to apologize to the lady. What could I say? “Sorry madam, sometimes my young friend is a complete idiot.”

 

She nodded and walked away. Louis whispered through the curtain, “You know, I heard that.”

 

“You were supposed to!” When he said that he could explain, I told him that I did not want to hear it. He told me anyway, telling me how at family reunions and at other times both his maman and his grandmaman made him take off his clothes in front of others to check for bug bites, scrapes, and scratches, putting salve on them if they found any. They would also make him change in front of others if he was wearing good clothes and wanted to go outside and play, or vice versa. Because of all of this, he was used to changing in public. I had to admit, that his story was unusual, and considering how sickly he was growing up, I could understand his explanation. Yet, I was having none of it. I poked my head through the curtain and said, “You idiot, that was family! How could you think that was acceptable behavior in public? I cannot believe you would do anything like that in your Ravenclaw Common Room. They would never tolerate it.”

 

“Hmm, yes they do. Some of the girls around my age giggled at first, and some of the older ones complimented me on my handsome body.” He smirked at that. “Yet, the boys did not seem to bat an eye, and nobody told me not to.”

 

The tolerance of the Ravenclaws astounded me. They must have quickly noted that Louis was extremely bright for his age, and valued that so much, that they decided to tolerate his quirky behaviors. “Were you the only one changing in public?”

 

“The boys change their shirts and robes all the time in the Common Room. They sometimes change their pants too when no girls are around.” I glared at him for how stupid he could be. He got quiet and thought about what he had just said. “I suppose I should apologize.” He did, and maybe because of his sincerity, or maybe because of his innocent looks, or maybe because he sounded so absolutely stupid, the elderly lady accepted his apology and went on with her business as usual. Or maybe I should say mostly as usual. She seemed to have Louis take off and put on his pants a fair number of times while she made slight adjustments. She also insisted that I try on my new attire in case she needed to make any adjustments. These were not totally unusual actions, but she also stayed in the changing room while we changed. Maybe she just did not trust us to be unsupervised, but if she had been much, much younger, I would have felt uncomfortable about it. Despite our delay, we were able to get back to the castle before classes resumed.

 

During the day of the Winter Ball, Albus, Hugo, Lilly, and I were standing at the side of the Great Hall, which had been cleared and decorated for dancing, watching the couples come in. Everyone looked splendid, including myself, as I was looking very sharp and handsome in my new dancing suit. True, I was not planning to dance, I did not have a date, but I needed to look good while I was watching the mostly older students who were about to dance. It all made me wish I had the nerve to ask someone to dance.  

 

Lilly pulled my arm and pointed out someone small and blond entering the Great Hall to join the dance. He did not walk down the steps with his dance partner, as technically he did not have a date, he only had a partner that promised him one dance. Louis looked regal in a deep blue suit that perfectly matched his eyes. He was the only boy wearing short pants, but that hardly made him stand out, because when he walked onto the dance floor, all the other dancers towered over him. He was the only first year and was by far the youngest dancer on the floor. When the first dance had just begun, he went straight over to Headmistress McGonagall and asked if she would give him his dance. She was wearing a dark blue-green bodice and skirt with a dark green petticoat. The skirt split down the front to reveal the petticoat. Her brand-new dress made her look years younger and matched Louis’s suit wonderfully. She straightened her back and looked at him without saying a word, forcing him to ask her again. I could not hear her reply, but from her lips, she may have said, “So soon?” She had the slightest upward bend to her lips as she looked at him.

 

He grabbed her hand, tilted his head to look up at her with his big eyes, and appeared to say, “Pretty please?” She smiled and talked further but allowed herself to be pulled onto the dance floor. It was like she was playing hard to get and forcing Louis to use his charm on her. I snickered, as did Lilly and Hugo beside me, but Albus said that he was going to get sick. Apparently, all my group were watching Louis struggle with his dance partner. It was all a game that the headmistress was playing as she danced not one but three dances with him, all of them the Foxtrot. When she went back to standing with the other teacher-chaperons, Louis came over to our group with a satisfied smile on his face. After pleasantly joining in our small talk for a bit, he asked Lilly if she would dance with him. When she said that she could not dance, he tried to tell her just to follow his moves. She said no, but he persisted. After several futile attempts to talk her into it, he started pulling her gently onto the dance floor.

 

She resisted and did not move more than a few inches while Albus pushed him forcefully and yelled, “You let go of my sister!”

 

Everyone nearby turned to look, which made Louis blush. He held up his hands and offered an apology. Lilly told Albus to quiet down and to mind his own business. I put my arm around Albus and told him that maybe we should get some cold refreshments, as he needed to cool down. Louis would not have done anything to hurt his cousin, and he never would have pulled her onto the floor against her wishes. He just had an odd way of trying to persuade her to dance with him. Albus was not about to leave or calm down, but fortunately Dominique showed up at that moment and asked if everything was OK. She came next to her brother offering her support without saying a word. She was wearing a deep blue dress with a frilly lace that was cut to enhance her Veela good looks, not that she needed it. I was struck how her dress brought out the color of her and her brother’s eyes and how well it matched Louis’s suit.

 

Lilly answered, “Yes, other than that Albus was way too loud.” She glared at her brother.

 

I quickly explained the situation to her and stated that I thought Albus just had misunderstood Louis’s intentions. She seemed to know exactly how to solve the problem, by separating the two of them. She did that by asking her brother to dance with her.

 

“You want me to dance with you?” He sounded incredulous.

 

“Why not? You asked me weeks ago, and you danced three with the headmistress, and I am not as old and much better looking than she.” As you can tell, Dominique was not shy about her looks and was very, very truthful.

 

“But you said no because you were my sister and that you have a boyfriend.”

 

“I girl can change her mind. And I think that my boy will be OK with my dancing one dance with my little brother. You are cute, but he knows I would never leave him for you.” Her grin turned thoughtful as she changed the subject. “What did you do to Jake? He has totally changed what he says about you. Now it is all praise and telling me how lucky I am to have you as a brother.”

 

“You do not say.” He appeared to be trying to brush it off without saying anything.

 

She looked at him sharply. “Yes, I do. If you knew how, I’d say you put an advanced charm spell on him.” Louis just chuckled. As a first year, he knew no advanced spells. “So, do I get the dance? We can do the Tango if you like.”

 

“Oh, can we! You know I like that one! But I get to lead!” She then took him onto the dance floor and they danced the Tango. They were very good at it, and they were a much, much better-looking couple than Louis and Professor McGonagall. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay in writing, but I had to move.


	10. Chapter 10

I asked Lilly how come Louis knew all these dances that only old people knew. Dominique was not exactly old, but she was older than we were. She just shook her shoulders. Albus answered that he learned them from his grandmother Weasley. He had apparently calmed down and was prepared to be reasonable. I then asked why Lilly and he did not learn the dances. He said that she only taught them to Louis, though Louis taught Dom. It was because he had spent so much time with his grandmother when she was taking care of him when he was sick. I nodded in understanding.

One hour after the dance began, people voted for the awards to be given, such as best costume. Louis and Professor McGonagall won awards for: the couple with the oldest dance partner, the couple with the youngest dance partner, the couple dancing the cutest and/or the cutest dancing couple, and the couple least likely to establish or continue a romantic relationship. Both Louis and headmistress McGonagall laughed and bowed for their awards, especially the last one. Louis and Dominique won awards for the couple with the best legs, and the couple dancing the sexist dance. Louis got all red in the face for each of these awards, though he bowed when they were presented. Dominique, on the other hand, positively glowed in the limelight with each award. Probably, many female dancers voted for Louis’s legs as he was the only boy wearing short pants. They probably also voted for his sexy dance, the Tango, as he was someone safe to vote for. Many of the girl’s boyfriends would have been jealous if they had voted for any other boy, unless it was for their boyfriend. Conversely, many of the male dancers voted for Dominique’s legs and sexy dance because she was part Veela. And yes, this probably did not make their girlfriends very happy. All told, Louis gained six awards, more than any other dancer except for his sister. I noticed that he was not clapping when Dominique got her awards but thought nothing of it at the time. She pretty much got most of the male votes on most of the awards, including mine. Hey! I had entered puberty so that I was swayed by her Veela charm as much as most of the other boys!

Right before ten, Lilly asked Louis if he still wanted to show her how to dance, saying that she would accept his offer now. This greatly surprised all of us, Louis even more so than Albus. Louis hesitated and looked to Albus, saying that Albus did not want him to dance with her. This earned him a kick in the shins as Lilly was furious that he was listening to her brother and not to her. “He is not my father and I do not have to do what he says!”

“Ow! OK! OK! Take it easy! I do not want to get an infection.” He then checked under his socks to see if he was bleeding. She had not kicked him that hard, but he must have been taught from an early age to check for broken skin in case it became infected. Lilly immediately forgot her anger, apologized and said that she had forgotten. Her reaction and his caution reminded me that although he looked like a normal boy, other than being rather good looking, he was far from normal. He had had a hard life, got sick easily, and that his Veela blood had nearly killed him just because he was a boy. As he carefully checked his shins, he stealthily moved over to Albus and whispered something to him. As Albus nodded, Louis stood up, moved over to Lilly, took her hands, and escorted her onto the dance floor. Yet, he did not seem to enjoy his dance with her.

I did not follow what Louis and Albus had communicated in whispers and in body language, but I could pretty well guess. Instead of asking, I made small talk. “You know, Albus. There must be something wrong with us. Here we are two very good looking second years standing alone at this dance without any dates. And out there on the dance floor are two first years having the ball of their lives. Something must be wrong with the universe.”

“They are just my sister and my cousin.”

“Yet, they are dancing, they have dates, and we do not.”

“They are not dates, they are cousins.”

“Louis danced with two other dates as well.”

Albus rolled his eyes. “His sister and his headmistress can hardly be called dates.” 

“Yet, he did get to dance with each of them. That only happened because he had the balls to ask them and many others I hear.” I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. “We did not get to dance with anyone, and how many people did we ask?”

He looked at me and said, “Something, my friend, is definitely wrong with the universe.”

“We should do something about it.” I then put on my most mischievous grin. “Feel like pranking someone?” His evil grin answered my question and stilled my troubled heart. Albus was no longer angry at Louis, he wanted to prank him. Although Louis might not like the prank, I would be able to tone it down if needed, and he would enjoy the attention. Besides, Lilly was going to get it too. She had asked Louis for a dance, she never asked me. She deserved it.

When they came off the dance floor, they made the mistake of coming to us. We complimented them on their dancing, telling them that they looked so hot when they were dancing, that they looked like they were on fire. When we asked if they felt like they were on fire, they both said yes. Albus and I then magically floated our large mugs of punch over them, pouring the punch on top of them, saying that we had a duty to put out their fire. They were both annoyed by it, and they threatened revenge when we would least expect it. We were unconcerned. If they pranked us, it would be a good excuse to get them again, not that we needed an excuse.

At ten o’clock, when all the younger students were dismissed from the dance to go to bed, Louis asked me if I would come to his Common Room and talk. I should have noted the trouble in his face, but I did not. So, I invited the others, which seemed to displease Louis, but Hugo was already going off to bed, and Lilly and Albus declined saying that they were tired and wanted to go to bed. Louis and I trudged in silence to the Ravenclaw tower. I did not notice that something was wrong until his silence and awkwardness in his walk told me. I kept waiting for him to say something, but he hardly even looked at me. As we were going down the hallway to the entrance to his dormitory, I could not contain myself further. “Whatever I did to annoy you, I am sorry.”

“What?” He looked at me with a furrowed forehead. The problem was not me. Was it Albus? “Why does she always have to be better than I?” She? Who was he talking about? “She has to be more popular, know more people, the teachers have to like her better, she has to tell me what to do, and win more prizes than I do. And it is not just one day, it is every day!” The only person he could be talking about was Dominique.

“Louis, you do not have to compete with her, she is your sister. Of course, more people know her than you, she has been going here for seven years! And why should you care that she is more popular? Nearly all of the guys past puberty like her only because of her Veela magical charm. People like you because of who you are.”

“Not so. They also like her for her good looks.”

“You have the same good looks, it is just that you are a boy.”

“It is not the same, nearly all the boys like her, and she has many friends. Few people like me.”

I looked at him with pity. He was competing with his sister who had Veela magic, he did not, so he could never win. “She is your sister, you do not need to compete with her.”

“So, you say. Yet, why did she have to get all the Veela charm? Why did she have to get more awards than I?” 

Initially, I was at a lost for what to say. Not knowing what to say or do, I started to pat him on the back until I looked into his very moist eyes. The issue was bothering him so much that he was about to cry. I then embraced him in a warm hug. “There, there, my little Veela. No one can tell you why she got the magic and you did not. It is as it is. You lose when you compare your awards to those of your sister, but you win when you compare your awards to everyone else at Hogwarts. Beating everyone else is pretty good, do you not think?” He hunched his shoulders in my hug for an answer. He was not hugging me back, in fact, his back was as stiff as a board. I then looked into his ocean blue eyes, eyes that could lose you for eternity, and said with affection, “You will always be my number one Veela. Do not forget it.”

At that point, he hugged me back and seemed to get better. I wondered why he was such a sensitive, insecure, and sensual little boy. Veela’s were sensual, everyone knew that. Yet, I had never heard someone describing them as sensitive or insecure. Was this just Louis, or were the Veela boys very different from the girls? I did not know. When we got in the Common Room, he asked if I could stay awhile. As it was already past curfew, I said that I really should be getting to my dorm. 

He looked at me with his blue eyes full of mist and said, “Please. I think I need it tonight.” I remembered my promise on the train ride where I had told him, Hugo, and Lilly, that if they ever needed me, I would be there for them. I told him I would stay for as long as he liked. We sat down and talked, talking late into the night. Eventually, we fell asleep on two couches that faced each other in the Common Room.

As the Christmas break approached, everyone was in a pitch making plans to go home, at least everyone I knew accept for Louis. He was one of the few who was planning on staying at Hogwarts during Christmas. When I asked him about it, he did not say much, put on a brave face, but could not entirely hide his disappointment about it. I asked Albus about it, but he just thought it was one of those weird things that Louis and his family did. He said that all his Veela relatives did weird things; it was just that Louis was the weirdest. When I said that he did not seem very happy about not going home for Christmas, Albus seemed surprised. He agreed with me that something might be up and agreed to ask the other relatives about it. Yet, no one knew a thing, and no one was concerned. This included Albus who confessed that he was helping me only because it was important to me. He said that Louis was too strange, too cute, too smart, too sick, too favored by his grandmother, and too much a fairy for him to be concerned about him. I found his statement to be very revealing as to why Albus and Louis had a rocky friendship, but decided not to say anything, as it would only have made him angry. He did advise me to ask his sister if I was that concerned about him. I realized I had been a complete idiot for not thinking of that myself. Yet, when I went and asked her, she got very quiet and essentially told me nothing. Early in the conversation, her boyfriend gave her an odd look, but I could not figure out what it meant. She said that Louis wrote to his maman and father, and after consulting with them, decided to stay at Hogwarts instead of coming home for Christmas. She was going home for Christmas, but only because she had to work nearby during the break and had Christmas off. 

I left Dominique with a bad feeling in my stomach, but I did not know what else to do. I went back to my dormitory to start studying but ended up packing for my own trip home instead. As I was brooding about what else I could do to find out why Louis was not going home, I got a message that Jake Wood was outside our Common Room and was asking for me. That was strange, Jake hardly noticed my existence and suddenly he was asking for me? When I went to the portal, he asked if I would walk with him. We walked to a quiet place in the dungeon where he told me the real reason Louis was not going home for Christmas. His family decided that they could not afford the round-trip train ticket to bring him home. He said that Dominique would have been in the same boat, but a friend talked her mother into hiring Dominique to watch her baby sisters during the break, so that Dominique could go home for Christmas. It is sort of a Christmas present for her, because they really do not need her to watch the kids, but they are calling it a job so that her parents will not refuse the charity.

He then looked at me closely, saying that he thought I would like to know. He made the comment that if he was as filthy rich as a Malfoy and if he had not gotten Louis a present, that he might consider buying him a train ticket home. He then asked me if I had gotten Louis a present yet. Talk about being blunt and straight to the point that was Jake.

“No,” I said with a smile. “Not yet.”

He then put a gold Galleon in my hand, saying that it would help. “Thanks. It will be more than enough. After all, I am a filthy rich Malfoy.” Do not ask me why, but I really enjoyed saying that. He patted me on my back and was off. I watched him go and was very glad that there was someone else besides me who was concerned about Louis and wanted to do something about it. I immediately wrote my father for the funds I needed to buy a round-trip train ticket for the Hogwart’s Express. I thought about trying to hide who it was for and why I needed one less Galleon, but in the end, I decided to tell him everything. He probably would figure it out anyway, and it was not like I had anything to hide. Besides, I needed it in less than two days’ time, or else it would be too late.


	11. Chapter 11

Now that I was satisfied and was sure that my father would send the funds, I was finally able to sit down and concentrate on my studies. I generally hated to study anywhere in my dorm, because it was cold from being under the Great Lake, and candlelight is a lousy light to read by. Nonetheless, I had made considerable progress by the time I was interrupted again.

 

“Malfoy, there is some old dude knocking on the portal to the Common Room asking for you.” When I raised my eyebrows, Marcus added, “Yes, he kind of looks like you.”

 

Marcus never was very bright. It had to be my father, but he would not appreciate being called old. “Thank you, Marcus.” I ran to the portal beaming with pleasure. “Hi father! I expected you to send the money, not to deliver it in person.” I then embraced him in a warm hug.

 

“Hi Scorpius,” he said with a smile as he embraced me back. “Could you get your coat, I have to take you to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes before they close, so we need to hurry.”

 

That was a surprise. That was in Diagon Alley. Was he planning on using the floo? “But father, I am not allowed to leave Hogwarts without permission.”

 

He told me that I should already know the answer to that. Yet, he said he did not have time to let me figure it out, so he pulled out a slip from his pocket. “I have already spoken to Headmistress McGonagall and gotten a permission slip. She is expecting us to use her floo. Now please grab your coat because time is short.” I ran back to my room to get my coat wondering what was going on. When I returned, my father ushered me out of the Common Room and headed us to the headmistress’s office. My father explained as we rushed down the hallway and up the stairs that I was going to need help if I wanted to get Louis a train ticket. He said that his parents would most certainly never allow such a charitable gift. He said that he thought he might know someone who might be able to get me the help I would need. We travelled from the headmistress’s fireplace to the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley and then made our way to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

 

A tall and athletic red-headed man greeted us after we entered the door. “Mr. Malfoy! What a pleasant surprise! You are always welcome, but please make your purchases swiftly because we will be closing soon.” His smile faltered as he looked at me; in its place, he took on a startled look, but just for a moment. His smile was quickly replaced, though it looked forced as he returned to my dad. “This must be your son. I must say the family resemblance is very strong.” He darted me another quick look that was piercing. I wondered if I had soot from the floo powder all over my face or something.

 

“Hello George. I know we have come at an inconvenient time, but we need to talk to you. My son wants to give Louis Weasley a ticket home for Christmas as a present, but I am pretty sure his parents will not allow it. We have come to ask for your help.”

 

George snorted in amusement. He did not address why he thought that funny, instead he ushered us through his shop and into his office. He explained that he could not have potential customers staying in the store when he would have to ask people to leave. He then went to his fireplace and spoke into it, calling for The Burrow. “Hi mum! Is it OK if I stop by briefly tonight after I close the shop? I need to talk to you and dad, and I may need to bring guests.”

 

Out of the fireplace I heard, “You are always welcome dear. I will tell Arthur to expect you.”

 

“Thanks mum.” After that, George looked at me again and then left us in the office. It was not long before he returned, saying that he had closed the shop and locked the door.

 

When I caught him looking at my face again, I asked if there was something wrong with it. He got a mischievous grin, and said, “Draco, your son has left himself wide open with that question.” He looked at me and his eyes twinkled as he did. “I will be nice and say that there is only one thing wrong with your face, it belongs to a young Malfoy.” His grin got even bigger if that was possible.

 

“I am sorry sir, but you keep staring at me.”

 

His mischievous grin lessened only a little as he became a little more serious. “Sir? You are very polite. And, sorry, but your resemblance to Louis is uncanny. That boy does not look much like his father. If my brother were to see you, he might question if his wife had been a little too friendly with your father, if you get my meaning.” He then winked at me and elbowed me.

 

Draco frowned. “George, he is a bit young for talk like that. And yes, their resemblance is a bit uncanny. You will find that they have some similar behaviors as well.” He then got his blank, proud fatherly look, which he always gets when he recalls something of my past. This time, it passed quickly as he asked if George could help us.

 

“You know, it is really funny that you would come and ask about a ticket home for Louis today. Louis wrote me early this morning if he could work in the shop during the break, asking for a ticket home for Christmas instead of pay. Now I would have instantly agreed to something like that, but I thought I had better ask my brother and his wife about it first. I must say that I was sorry that I had asked. They will not accept even that little bit of charity from me, and I am Will’s brother.” He looked almost annoyed.

 

“So, you cannot help us. Is that what you are saying?”

 

“I am afraid I cannot.” His mischievous grin then returned. “But I know someone who can.”

 

“Molly Weasley,” I said with a grin on my face. She was very close to her youngest grandson, she would want to see him at Christmas, and she was someone that Bill and Fleur would have to listen too. Molly would not accept a no when it came to her grandson.

 

George said to my father, “He is bright, good looking, and rich. In a few years, you are going to have trouble with girls and him. Mark my words!” He then winked at the both of us. “Can you come with me and plead your case to my mum? She has a sore spot for children, not that I think she would deny Louis a family Christmas. Still, it always helps to play with all your cards.”

 

“As long as we are not long. I have to get my son back to Hogwarts as he has school tomorrow.” George just nodded his head in understanding and grabbed the floo powder. His eyes twinkled, he got a silly grin, and then he threw the floo powder at my face. Great, now there was something wrong with my face. He then ushered Draco to his fireplace, I stepped in next, and he followed.

 

“Mr. Malfoy! What an unexpected guest!” It came from an older man with ruddy cheeks whose once red hair had mostly turned grey. “Louis?” It was a question he directed at me. Yet, as George stepped through, he turned and asked his son what was going on.

 

“No dear. This fine, good looking young man must be Draco’s son.” This came from an older witch with so many wrinkles that they tended to hide her numerous freckles. She had dyed her hair red but it was starting to fade so that numerous gray strands were beginning to show. “Is that right dear,” she asked as she embraced me in a big warm hug. That was how I would describe Mrs. Weasley, it was like walking into a hug. I understood why Louis was so close to her. I loved her instantly, of course, note that she thought I was a fine, good looking young man.

 

“Hi mum! Hi pop!” George spoke before I could reply to Mrs. Weasley. “Yes, this is Draco, who you know, and his son, Scorpious. They want to talk to you about Louis and his Christmas present.” George looked at me with his big mischievous grin again. I got a tingling sensation that he was up to something, and I would bear the brunt of it again.

 

“Oh?” It came from both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Yet, Molly said that it would have to wait for a minute, because she had something to do first. She took out her wand, called a washrag over to herself, wet it from her wand, and then proceeded to start cleaning my face. “You have some floo powder on your face dear. A face as handsome as yours needs to be seen.” She had a tender hand and seemed to enjoy cleaning my face. I could tell by the way her smiles matched the stroking of her hand.

 

“Er, yes,” was all I could at first reply. I recovered, glared at George, and said, “I wonder how that happened?”

 

George had the nerve to wink at me. “Oh, you know. Boys and their dirty faces. They can pick them up anywhere.” He knew that I wanted his help getting Louis a Christmas present, so that I could not rat him out. I was sure that his mother would not like hearing about what he did to my face. I was sure he would get in trouble. Yet, for Louis, I held my tongue. Besides, I really did enjoy the attention that Mrs. Weasley was giving me. I was beginning to feel almost as if I were one of her grandkids. My father just stood there doing nothing but snicker at everything.

 

When Mrs. Weasley finished, I almost regretted that she was done. Yet, Mr. Weasley got us back on track, asking how this all related to Louis and his Christmas present. George explained about his letter from Louis, asking to work in the shop to earn a ticket home for Christmas and how his folks nipped it. “Whatever for?” Mr. Weasley asked, though Mrs. Weasley was only beaten to the punch by a second.

 

“My brother said that he cannot accept anymore charity, even for Louis, even for Christmas.”

 

Mrs. Weasley asked in a cold tone, “Do you want us to speak to him?”

 

“No, mum. That is where Scorpius comes in. This brilliant and kind boy heard that Louis would be staying at Hogwarts for Christmas, and on his own, discovered why, I need not remind you of why, and on his own, decided to give Louis a ticket home for Christmas as his Christmas present. Scorpius, of course knows little of my brother’s anathema for charity, wrote his father for the funds, who contacted me for help, who in turn contacted you for help.” George paused, looked at both his parents, and asked if they understood.

 

They nodded their heads. Both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked at me, but Molly spoke to me. “Is this true dear?”

 

“Not exactly, mam. Albus helped a lot, and Jake Wood told me why Louis was not going home and gave me the idea of giving him a ticket home as a Christmas present. Heck, Jake even gave me a gold gallon to help pay for it, mam.”

 

“How can we help dear?”

 

She was speaking to me, and that extra word, dear, spoke volumes. I loved her for it. Yet, George answered for me. “Can you say that you bought a ticket home for Louis as his Christmas

present? You do not need to pay for it, as we will do that. It has to be from you because my brother will not be able to say no to his mummy and daddy.” George made facial expressions when he said his last line; he was poking fun of his brother.

 

Mr. Weasley answered yes that he could. Yet, he insisted on paying for a Galleon of the ticket since the ticket would be said to be coming from him and his wife. Between the two of them, they almost scraped up enough Sickles and Knuts to make a Galleon, but George had to add two Sickles. George then offered to split the rest of the cost of the ticket with the Malfoys, but Draco would not let him. He said that the Christmas gift was Scorpius’s idea, so that Scorpius should be allowed to pay for most it. They agreed to let George contribute a Galleon while the Malfoys paid for the rest. Scorpius handed Mrs. Weasley the money, telling her to buy a ticket and to send it in the next owl post. She smiled, said that she would, and then gave me another hug. I could see why Louis was so close to her.

 

All in all, it was a productive evening, and I made it back to Hogwarts in time to go to bed. I did not speak to Louis until we were on the Hogwarts Express, though I did see him get an owl post with the morning breakfast. On the train, I was sitting with Albus enjoying the ride home. After a while, I suggested that we go and see our friends. It would be easy as our friends only counted Hugo, Lilly, and Louis, and Albus expected Louis to be at Hogwarts. I knew he was on the train, but I had to pretend that I did not. We found all three of them sitting together chatting, or rather, Lilly and Hugo were chatting. Louis was looking out the window with a silly grin on his face.

 

“Louis, what are you doing here?” It was Albus, he expected Louis to be spending Christmas at Hogwarts.

 

“I got a Christmas present from my grandparents, a ticket home for Christmas.” He said it with that same silly grin on his face. It made him look like an imp. I was so very pleased to see him happy.

 

Albus muttered something about his Christmas gift going to be much less expensive, but he was quiet enough that only I could hear him. He then wished everyone a merry Christmas, sat down, and started to talk to Hugo.

 

I asked Louis if that was what he had gotten from the morning post, explaining that I had seen an owl deliver something to him at breakfast. He answered that yes, it was. Not that he needed to explain, I already knew, but I wanted to keep up the pretense. I sat down next to him, saying that he deserved it and that I wished him a merry Christmas. He was going home, so I knew he would have one.

 

From my source, I hear he had a good time at Christmas. Yet, I did not see him again until the ride back to Hogwarts. I was sitting alone with Albus in a compartment in the train. Early in the ride, Louis searched us out and joined us. He made a few pleasantries, said little, and stared at me an awful lot. I could tell from that the way he kept eyeing me that he wanted to say something, but he did not because of the presence of Albus. He just kept quietly looking at me. It was getting uncomfortable as Albus and I continued to talk. Finally, Albus stood to look at a mother deer and her two fawns out of the window furthest from me, talking about how beautiful they looked. When he did, Louis quickly leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Thank you, grand maman told me everything.” He then quickly moved back and smiled pleasantly at me. Albus missed it entirely. Shortly after Albus sat down and began talking, Louis got up, explained that he had to get back to his compartment, and left.

 


	12. Chapter 12

After he left, Albus asked, “Was it just me, or was Louis acting sort of creepy?” I just grinned and nodded my head. I was not going to tell him that Louis had delivered me a private message. I did not see him again for several days, other than across the Great Hall at meal times. I did not think anything of it at the time, suspecting that we were both just busy getting started with the new term, but later I concluded that he had been avoiding me.

 

As it was, Albus and I had just played a prank on the Gryffindor’s outside of their Common room. Late one night, we had hung up a picture outside of their entrance that was magically charmed to insult them. Albus and I immediately left, Albus for our Common room, I to the nearest bathroom that was not in Gryffindor territory. I had to relieve myself and was not sure I could last till arriving in the dungeons. As it happened, the nearest bathroom was near the Ravenclaw Common room. Being so late, I expected it would be empty, and at first, I thought it was. As I was relieving myself, I heard muted crying coming out of one of the stalls. “Great,” I thought, “just what I needed. Some piss hole of a little Ravenclaw crying in the bathroom.” I just hoped I could finish and get out of there before getting involved in anything. As I finished washing my hands, I heard a particularly loud sigh followed by more muted crying. From the pitch, I surmised that it was a first year. I am unsure why I did it, but I asked, “Is there anything that I can do to help?” I hoped that the answer would be no, so that I could get the heck out of there. Instead, the unexpected happened. There was some rustling and the stall door opened.

 

The boy crying behind the door was Louis. He probably only opened the door because he recognized my voice. “I should have guessed it would have been you.”

 

At the time, I had no idea what he meant. My initial astonishment turned to deep concern when I saw how bad he looked and that he was bleeding from his nose. “Louis? What is wrong?”

 

He cried with tears, “I’ve had a hard on for three days and nothing I do makes it better.”

 

With confusion in my voice, “What?” He repeated what he had said, which did not help because I had heard him, it is just that it did not make any sense. How could he have such a hard on, and how could it cause him to bleed from his nose, and why did he look so awful? “No, that is not what I meant. Why are you bleeding from your nose, and why are you crying?” I probably should have asked him why he looked so terrible, but I was afraid it would not be helpful.

 

“Oh this,” and he wiped his bloody nose with the back of his hand, “it is nothing and just started recently.” He looked at me with tears in his eyes. “I am crying because I feel awful.” He looked down at the floor before continuing in a whisper. “My hard on hurts, and my balls have been aching for three days. They feel like they are going to pop.” He started to cry again. “What am I going to do?”

 

This was incredible. If he really had a hard on for three days, I was sure his balls would ache. I really did not know what to make of his story. It was unbelievable, except that he had never lied to me and he seemed sincere. I went over to him, put a tissue to his nose, and applied pressure. His nose bleed stopped right away. “Have you gone to the nurse?”

 

“You have the magic touch.” He was referring to my ability to stop his nose bleed. He then answered my question. “She was no help. Though I was really embarrassed, I went to her after my first day. She laughed and said that all I had to do was ejaculate, and I would be fine. When I asked her how, she laughed again and said that I would figure it out or have a wet dream, whatever that is.” He looked down and frowned. “That was awful, and she gave me no help.”

 

“You do not know how to ejaculate?” After I said it, I knew he did not. He was only a first year and this was his first time. I recalled how I had accidentally discovered it myself not too long ago. I was proud that I had entered puberty while only in my second year. It figured Louis would beat me by entering it in his first year. Yet, why was he having so much trouble with it?

 

“No. Do you?”

 

His answer confused me because I had moved beyond my question. When I remembered what I had asked him, I positively beamed at him. “You are in luck. Because, I am one of the few second years who know.” I then told him how to do it, and I was grinning all the time. After all, it is not every day that I get to teach sex education. And I was doing it to a Veela! It made me feel important.

 

He went back in his stall, shut the door, and started doing it. I could hear some rustling and his breathing. Shortly after his breathing became very heavy, I heard him say, “Oh no!” He then rushed out towards me with his pants down and bleeding from his ears, eyes, noise, and asshole. He was well developed for a first year, but he looked like he was dying. He then begged me to hold him.

 

I applied pressure first to his ears and told him he needed to see the nurse. When his ears stopped bleeding, I applied pressure to his eyes. He asked me if he was dying. When I saw that his eyes were no longer bleeding, I applied pressure to his nose, and noticed that he was no longer bleeding from his ass. I answered, “Your bleeding is almost under control. I think you will be alright.” As soon as I said that, he was no longer bleeding. “We should go to the nurse to determine what is wrong.”

 

“I know what is wrong. I am part Veela and there are not supposed to be males among the Veela.” He took a few breaths before continuing. “No, I have to finish this, or I will probably die. Will you hold me?”

 

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at him questioningly. What was he asking me? “Do you mean hold you while you ejaculate?”

 

His cheeks turned red and he made a slight grin. “I know it sounds bad. Yet, I will need you to keep from bleeding. You have the magic touch to stop it. You can close your eyes if you wish.”

 

I never told him yes, but he moved me into the toilet stall nonetheless. It was like I was in a trance and Louis was guiding me. He sat me down and then sat on top of me. He said that he wanted plenty of contact with my hands, so he removed his shirt and undershirt. Then he grabbed my arms and flung them around his chest, saying that that should do it. He turned his head to look at me, saying that I was too good to him. He then asked if he could begin. When I said nothing, we just sat there for a while. I could not believe the situation I had gotten myself into. Was I really going to do this? So, I shut my eyes, and told him he could begin. I never saw any of it, but I was holding him and could hear him. It was very awkward to say the least.

 

When he finished, he cleaned himself with some toilet paper, stood up, pulled up his pants, and walked out of the stall. I just sat there not believing what had happened and wondering what to do. After a while, he asked if I was coming out.   Not having anything better to do, I came out. By this time, Louis had put on his shirt and was combing his hair in a mirror by a sink. I could not look at him but said, “I do not want anyone to know what just happened. No one. Nada.”

 

He looked at me and gave his impish grin. “That won’t be a problem.” Had this Veela devil been controlling me? “And thank you. I did not bleed at all while you were holding me. You really do have the magic touch. I could not have gotten through that without you.”

 

We both knew he was telling the truth. His bleeding had been so bad that he probably would have died without me. Entering puberty must be really rough on part Veela males. Without thinking, I said, “The next time you do that, let me know so that I can stay nearby. Hopefully, you will not need me, but you should be prepared just in case.” After I said it, I closed my eyes and wondered why I had said it. I certainly did not want to hold him through that again.

 

He looked at me with a questioning look, but only said, “Thanks.” I could tell he had never thought about masturbating before. He would learn. After that, we each departed for our dorm rooms, and we never talked about what had happened this night for a long time.

 

I found it difficult to be around Louis after that, so I tended to avoid him. When I could not avoid him, I tended not to speak to him or to even look at him. To make matters worse, he was all weird and everything. Whatever I wanted to do, he wanted to do it. Whenever we were with others and there was a vote on what to do, he would always vote for what I wanted to do. Fortunately, no one noticed it except for Albus. He asked me about it, but I could not explain what had happened that night in the bathroom. So, I never answered him. He knew enough to let it go. He is a good mate.

 

Louis was not so easily handled. One day he came up to me while I was studying for my classes with no one else around. He initially tried to make small talk, but I told him that I was busy studying and could not talk to him. I was hoping he would leave, but he was not so easily put off. He got all serious and down faced, and he asked me what he had done wrong. That got my attention. It might have been the first time since that night where I had paid him my full attention.

 

“You have done nothing wrong.” I knew it was a lame explanation, but it was true, and I had no other answer.

 

“Then why have you been avoiding me? The few times when we have been together, you barely talk to me, and you hardly look at me?” He paused and looked at me. His eyes became all red as if he was about to cry. He said in a voice that was about to break, “I thought we were friends.”

 

I felt terrible. He really did not understand. How could I explain? “Louis, we are friends. I am just having a difficult time. It is very awkward being with you after that night. What we did, what you did. It was not normal. And because of that, I am afraid of you.”

 

That only confused him. “Afraid of me? Scorpious, I will never hurt you.”

 

He was sincere, but I already knew what he said was true, he would never deliberately hurt me. Yet, there were other problems. “I know. I am not afraid that you will hurt me. I am afraid of you?”

 

“What?”

 

I knew he would not understand it. Heck, I hardly understood it. I mumbled some things before saying, “I suppose it is more my feelings for you?”

 

“You are afraid of your feelings for me?” I nodded my head in answer. “I do not understand.”

 

“No, I imagine you do not. To tell you the truth, I do not understand it myself. When I know more, I promise I will try to explain it to you.” I then smiled at him for the first time in a long time. He saw it and perked up immediately. “In the meantime, I will try to be a better friend. Meaning, I will try to hang around with you more, talk to you more, and pay more attention to you.”

 

“Do you promise? I would like that.” That made him so happy that he agreed to leave me so that I could study. Which I needed, because I had a lot to think about, though not much of it was about school. I did not see him again for several days other than across the dining hall at meals. Even at that distance, I could tell he was happy and beaming. I am not sure why, but somehow I mattered to him. Did he not have other friends?


	13. Chapter 13

The next time I saw him, I had gone outside to study. It had been unusually warm and sunny that day in March, so I had decided to do my studying outside on the grass. I picked a hill overlooking a field that had some first year Hufflepuff boys playing with a soccer ball. I had not studied long before three Ravenclaw first years joined those with the soccer ball below me. Louis was one of the three, and he waved at me but had apparently come out to play soccer with the Hufflepuffs. That confused me greatly because I had never seen him play any sports before. I thought that because of his frail condition and thin skin he avoided games like soccer. The chance of an injury was just too great for him, so he had simply done without sports. Yet here he was, dressed smartly in blue and bronze soccer shorts and T-shirt with matching blue socks and bronze soccer shoes. It so confused me that I kept my eye on him to see what he was up to. Oh, let’s be honest, I was worried about him.

 

The boys divided into two teams and then began to play a game. Louis was on the team furthest from me, but he would be running my way. The ball was passed around quite a bit, mostly by the other team heading towards Louis’ goal. As the tallest opposing player was nearing the goal, Louis sprinted in on him, stole the ball, and then headed down the field for the other goal. His footwork was amazing as he crossed the field exerting absolute control of the ball. This amazed me. Where had he learned such footwork? Considering that I had never seen him play soccer before, how could he have possibly learned it? As I watched, he kept his opponents away from the ball, never passed it to anyone on his team, and he moved ever closer to the goal. As three opponents rushed at him at the same time hoping to steal the ball by their sheer numbers, he kicked it and scored the first point. As his team members jumped for joy, four of his opponents circled him, and started taunting him. They were all Hufflepuffs and were calling him names. They said that he was a cheating, dirty, good for nothing animal. They soon started shoving him around in their circle, calling him a Veela boy, and eventually threw him to the ground.

 

As his team mates, including the Ravenclaws from his own house, stood around doing nothing, I ran over to intervene. I suppose that I started running before that, but I will never admit it. “What seems to be the problem here?” I asked loudly while standing in the middle of the circle of those around Louis. He was on the ground looking up at his tormentors with confusion in his face. I suspect that he did not understand what had just happened to him.

 

One of the boys opposing Louis asked who I was, while another answered my question, “Nothing is the matter! This does not concern you, so leave!”

 

Well, at least I got their attention away from Louis. I took out my wand and stated, “I am Scorpius Malfoy. And since you have just thrown my friend down onto the ground, I think it is a concern of mine.” They were a bit unruly, which is why I took out my wand. I thought I could handle two first years, but four was beyond my ability. With magic though, they could not defeat me, especially since they had left their wands in the dormitory. Nonetheless, I was going to try and solve this with diplomacy. That was what my father had taught me and I would do my best to follow it.

 

“Are you threatening us? If so, I am telling the headmistress.”

 

“No,” I answered. “I am not planning to harm any of you unless you attack me. And you can tell the headmistress anything you like. Such as how you ganged up on Louis after he scored a goal, tossed him around, and then threw him to the ground.” Some of them began to back up after I had said that. They might have begun to realize that they were in the wrong.

 

Yet, the tall boy who had thrown him down shouted, “He is a stinking animal. Why are you defending him?” He obviously did not think that he was in the wrong. I realized that he might be difficult to convince to back down.

 

I had already answered his question, but this boy was slow. “Because he is my friend.” I then tried to turn the subject more to what I wanted to know, though I feared the answer. “I have been around Louis quite a bit, so I can testify that he does not smell. So, why are you calling him a stinking animal?”

 

“Because he cheated. He stole the ball from me and then scored. I want to make sure that that stinking Veela boy learns that he can never do that again. If he does, then we will treat him like the animal that he is.”

 

“Sorry, but I saw what he did. Why do you say he cheated?” Actually, I did not follow much of what he said, but I thought I had better start at the beginning and take it slow.

 

“What is wrong with you? He stole the ball from me and scored. That is why he cheated.”

 

“In soccer, stealing the ball and scoring a goal is part of the game. Why do you say it is cheating?”

 

“Because he is an animal, you moron!”

 

“So, if a human were to do it, it would be part of the game. Yet, if a Veela does it, it is cheating.” I made the jump that the tall boy was calling Louis an animal because he was part Veela, and the boy made no objection to it. He at first answered yes, changed it to no, and then became unsure what to answer. He could see that no answer would be a defensible answer. At this point, his team mates were ready to call it quits, they knew now that they had been in the wrong, yet; not the tall boy.

 

“You are calling Louis an animal because he is part Veela?”

 

“Exactly. His mother mated with an animal and gave birth to _Louis_.” He pronounced Louis like he was a disease. “There should not be any Veela boys, so we need to get rid of _Louis_.”

 

“Louis is only 1/8th Veela. His mother did not mate with a Veela, his great-grandfather did. And the Veela are not animals. They are either humans or a sibling species because they can interbreed with humans.” Well, at least with witches and wizards, but I did not want to be too technical.

 

I was ignoring the fact that Louis was the only known part Veela boy; unfortunately, the tall boy returned to that. He said the Louis should not exist. I tried to say that he does exist, and that there will probably be more Veela boys. Yet, for the moment, I had to admit that Louis was unique. He was the only Veela boy in existence, and he was special to me because of it. Realizing that, I finally understood why Louis had captured my father’s interest. I had wondered about that ever since he had first mentioned Louis to me. Now, I finally understood. I found that odd. By defending Louis, I came to understand my father better.

 

As the others started to leave for their dormitories, the tall boy gave up arguing with me and left with his team mates. He probably figured he could not win against me. I bent down to Louis who was still on the ground and started checking him for broken skin. I knew how thin his skin was and how easily he could get an infection. Louis tried to stop me, though he thanked me for defending him. I asked him if he had felt scared by being tossed around, called names, and thrown to the ground.

 

He stood up, gave me his impish grin, and said, “No, because I knew you were nearby.”

 

His answer astonished me. This demon assumed a lot from me. “You cannot expect me to immediately jump in and defend you every time you need it.”

 

He smiled broadened as he said, “And yet you did, and you always have. This time, you jumped in and started defending me before I even understood what was happening.” I could not retort to that because it was true. I had started running towards him on instinct immediately. “I knew I could count on you. My only surprise was in how quickly you got to me. Thanks, I owe you.”

 

I looked at him dumbfounded. “You are welcome, and you do not owe me anything. And despite your compliment, I am still going to take you to the school nurse to get you a thorough check over.” He looked at me with his ocean blue eyes, said nothing, initially looking disappointed, but then grinned. He did not want to go and see the nurse, but he was just too prone to get an infection. He knew that I was just looking out for him, so he trusted me without complaint and started walking with me to see the nurse. From that moment on, I knew that we would never be alone again. We would be good friends for life. The end.


End file.
